Minding Your Business
by SomethingMoreCreative
Summary: Annabeth thought she wasn't going to make it much longer. These constant headaches were killing her. Percy was being oblivious, and really, Aphrodite? Was this whole thing necessary? Follow Annabeth as she goes on a quest to save the goddess of love from her kidnapper and tries to get Percy out of her mind. Annabeth-centric. Percabeth. Set after The Last Olympian.
1. Chapter 1- Glitter and Passing Out

**A/N: Hey! This is going to be my first attempt at a multiple chapter story.**

**This is set directly after The Last Olympian as if Percy and Annabeth never started dating. For the sake of this story, let's pretend that the famous cupcake scene never happened.**

**I'm not sure when I will update these chapters. I am going to do a test run with a few chapters first to see what the reviews and outcome is looking like so make sure you leave one if you want me to update!**

**Also, I could not figure out a title for this. I normally wait until I finish a story before I title it, but this is a multi-chapter so it's possible that I will rename the story in the future. (Can you even do that?)**

**I tried to keep them as in character as possible, and if they are OOC let me know so I can try to fix it! Thanks!**

**Happy reading! Leave a review please!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. **

* * *

Annabeth coughed again, and she could literally swear that she would be coughing up pink dust and glitter for the rest of her life.

She was just now getting back to Camp from Olympus. Earlier today she had presented Aphrodite with her new temple, and the goddess of love apparently "fell in love" with it and decided to grace Annabeth with a hug filled with glitter and pink dust.

"Annabeth!" Somebody called as she walked back up toward the Athena cabin from the stables.

She turned around, trying not to lose any of the blueprints or extra books in her hands. Her backpack was already full, and she didn't have another bag.

Her best friend, Percy Jackson, was running toward her. He had on jeans and an orange Camp shirt. His hair was windblown, like he had spent his morning on the beach and hadn't bothered to brush it, which was probably extremely accurate. He had a perfectly crooked grin on his face as if seeing her made his whole world better.

Annabeth tried not to blush. Since the war had ended a few weeks ago, her time had been divided between two things: designing Olympus and Percy Jackson. They had grown a lot closer, but they weren't dating. Somehow, Annabeth didn't think they were very far from the tipping point though. Over the last week or two, when Annabeth was with Percy, she kept noticing… new things. More than one time a day, she would catch him staring at her with some of the strangest looks on his face, but instead of blushing and looking away from her like he would have done a month ago, he would grin and wink before going back to whatever he had been doing.

And he kept touching her. Over the past five years, Annabeth could count on one hand how many times Percy had really touched her for no reason at all. They were battle partners and saving each other on a daily basis ensures contact, but it had never really been more than pulling him up off of the ground or tackling each other. But now, if she was standing with Chiron or just around Camp somewhere, he would brush her hair off of her shoulders. Or if she was sitting somewhere working on a design, he would come and sit with her, tugging on her curls or poking her side.

Her absolute favorite was at night when they were sitting on the beach after the campfire. Annabeth went there to relax if she had a really stressful day, and Percy just followed her. They would sit in the sand, close enough for Annabeth's feet to touch the waves. Percy would lean back on his elbows and curve around her, placing his hand on her hip and drawing circles over the material of her shirt and shorts.

Most of the time Annabeth couldn't figure out what was going through his mind. If anything, his actions as of late should prove that he did like her as more than a friend, but if he did why couldn't he just take the jump and tell her? Was he afraid that she would deny him?

Or maybe she was reading way too much into the situation. Maybe he didn't like her at all. Since he had saved the world and everything, he had plenty of girls just throwing themselves at him, and maybe he thought that something like that would happen with her. Maybe he didn't want a relationship.

_This is Percy_, she chided immediately. _He wouldn't ever hurt you like that._

But still… If he really did have feelings for her, why wouldn't he just say? Did he think that she didn't like him back? Wasn't it plain obvious that she did? Everyone else seemed to think it was.

Annabeth smiled back at Percy. All of her analyzing had happened in less than 3 seconds so she didn't look like a total loser.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain." She said as he stopped in front of her.

Percy smiled and looked down at her. He had grown more, so he was a couple of inches taller than her and he knew just how to make it annoy her.

"Want some help?" He asked.

Annabeth nodded and shoved all of her books into his open arms, trying not to blush when her hands skimmed over her his stomach. "Thank gods. I've been carrying that stuff all the way from Olympus."

"Why didn't you put it in your backpack?" He said, knitting his eyebrows together.

"It's full." She said.

"Oh."

Annabeth laughed, "Yeah. My thoughts exactly."

Percy's grin got even bigger. "So what are you doing?"

"Nothing. I'm already finished with the West Wing of Olympus and most of the temples so I just have to oversee construction tomorrow." She said as she started walking toward her cabin.

Percy caught on and walked with her, letting his shoulder brush hers. "You need to take a day off."

"I don't have time to take a day off, Percy." She said, rolling her eyes.

"But I never see you anymore." He whined.

Annabeth had to admit that he looked pretty cute with his lower lip poked out and his green eyes flashing playfully.

"You see me every day!" She exclaimed.

"Only like an hour a day though, and that's not enough." He said as he bumped her shoulder.

Annabeth fell quiet as they walked. His comment had affected her a lot. How could he say that he wasn't seeing her enough? They saw each other every day and they hung out as much as she could, but apparently that wasn't enough for him.

_He wants more_, some part of her whispered.

She couldn't help but hope that she was a little bit right about that. She knew she wanted more. She wanted a lot more.

"Well come with me." She found herself saying. "You don't do anything during the day anyway."

Percy was grinning. "You would let me come with you? To Olympus?"

She shrugged and hoped her cheeks weren't as red as they felt. She had been doing so good about not blushing! "Yeah, if you wanted. But I would definitely send you home if you started whining."

"Me? Whining? I think you've got me mixed up with somebody else. I don't whine." He said.

"That's like saying you don't drool. It's a complete waste of breath." Annabeth joked.

He pretended to gasp. "And here I thought you were my best friend!"

She tried not to wince at that. If he was still calling her his best friend, that probably wasn't a good first step toward a relationship.

They walked the rest of the trip to the Athena cabin in silence. Annabeth didn't really feel like talking anymore, and Percy didn't push her.

"Where do you want these, Wise Girl?" Percy asked softly as he followed her into her cabin. It was empty; her siblings must have all been out training.

She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. She was starting to get a headache and normally if she didn't jump start herself out of it, she would keep one for days.

"Just throw them down on my bunk. I'll deal with them later." She said keeping her eyes closed against the sunlight filtering in.

She heard Percy walk over to her bunk and put her books and notes down before he came back over to stand in front of her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Annabeth opened her eyes and for once was glad he was tall enough to cast a shadow over her. He was standing extremely close to her, so close that her leg would brush his if she moved.

She nodded weakly, "I'm getting a headache. It just now hit me."

"Maybe you should lie down and rest until dinner. You've been working constantly since the war ended. You need to take a break." He said.

Annabeth was actually a little surprised that Percy was acting like this. Sure, he had always been protective of her, but lately it had gotten a lot worse. And she didn't mind, she kind of liked that he tried to protect her all the time. She was just noticing that it was happening a lot more recently.

"I couldn't go to sleep anyway. It's too bright in here." She said. "I think I'm going to go for a run. Maybe that will make it go away."

She started to turn away and get her running clothes, but Percy's arms stopped her. One of his arms wrapped around her waist, and the other settled on her back just below her shoulder blades, trapping her against his body.

"No, Annabeth." He said. "You need to rest. A run is just going to make it worse."

She tried to shrug out of his arms, but he wouldn't let go. "I told you I won't be able to sleep in here anyway. I might as well go for a run."

"Go to the Poseidon cabin. It's always dark in there." He offered.

Annabeth frowned. "I want to go on a run."

"You can go on a run tomorrow morning after you rest tonight." Percy said again, staring at her with his stupidly beautiful green eyes. "Either come with me now and rest in the Poseidon cabin or we will go to the infirmary and I will make you rest there."

Annabeth let out an exasperated breath and leaned her head against Percy's chest. Her head was getting worse, and now she didn't even feel like arguing with him.

"Poseidon cabin." She muttered.

"Good. Do you need to bring anything with you?" Percy asked.

She shook her head. "No."

"Okay. Do I need to carry you?"

"No." She moaned into his chest. Gods, where had this headache even come from? She had plenty of headaches all the time, but this one felt different. She wanted to legit curl up in a dark corner and die.

"At least hold my hand." He said.

She nodded and leaned back up from his chest and blindly held out her hand.

Percy laced his fingers with hers and started to pull her out of the cabin. She whimpered when they got outside, closing her eyes against the sunlight.

Percy guided her toward his cabin. He kept her close enough so their sides brushed, and Annabeth was still able to hope that no one could see her right now. She caught enough grief from the other campers when she and Percy were just hanging out, and if they saw her being guided to the Poseidon cabin in his arms, she would never hear the end of it.

They finally made it to Cabin 3, and Percy gently pushed her inside. The cabin was dark and Annabeth's head felt a little better just standing here. She sighed and started to sink to the floor.

Percy caught her and pulled her up off of the ground. "Whoa, Annabeth. Let's get you in my bunk then you can go to sleep."

A second later, Annabeth found herself being tucked into a bunk. Percy had pulled her shoes off, and now he was pulling the sheets up to her chin.

She sighed happily. His bunk smelled like he did and for just a few seconds, she could pretend that his arms were wrapped around her.

"I'm going to sword training. Will you be okay here by yourself?" Percy asked, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Mmm. I'll be fine." She murmured, slanting her eyes open to look at him.

He was leaned over her. One of his arms was on her other side, and his face was less than a foot from hers. His eyes were sparkling and Annabeth couldn't figure out the look on his face. He looked almost… happy.

"Okay. I'll be back in a little while. Come find me if you need me." He said as he started to get up.

"Percy?" Annabeth called when he stood up.

"Yeah babe?" He asked.

She didn't really have the energy to wonder where that nickname came from. "Thank you." She whispered.

"No problem. Get some rest, Wise Girl." Percy said as he walked toward the door.

Annabeth curled up on her side and buried her face in his pillow. She was asleep before Percy was out of the door.

Ω

_"Annabeth!"_

_ She spun around, finding Percy running toward her with a giant smile on his face. He looked pretty good and Annabeth blushed despite herself._

_ "Hey, Seaweed Brain." She said._

_ "Come to the beach with me." He said, grabbing both of her hands._

_ "Okay." She smiled._

_ They raced to the beach hand in hand. The campers around them wolf-whistled and Annabeth was glad when they were finally out of sight._

_ Without warning, Percy stopped and wound his arms around Annabeth. They were pressed together chest to chest without any extra space between them._

_ "Gods, Wise Girl, I missed you." He said with a sigh. _

_ He leaned down and kissed her._

_ Somehow, her lips knew what to do. She kissed him back even though her knees were weak and Percy's arms were the only thing keeping her up off of the ground. _

_ What was she doing? They weren't dating!_

_ She couldn't bring herself to care when Percy laid her down in the sand and kissed her everywhere he could reach, murmuring her name over and over again._

_ The waves washed over them and Annabeth could taste the salt on his skin._

_ He leaned up and kissed her face, whispering, "Wake up, Annabeth. Wake up."_

Annabeth's eyes fluttered open slowly, taking in the yellow light filtering in through the windows.

Where was she? The last thing she remembered was… being in the Poseidon cabin. She had been in Percy's cabin resting, but she wasn't there now.

It took her a little longer than normal, but after a few more seconds she finally realized she was in her cabin and in her bunk. She could see her books and notes sitting neatly in a pile on one of the nearby desks and her shoes were in the floor beside her bunk.

How had she gotten back here? She didn't remember even waking up so there was no way she could have walked back here and put all of her notes and books up.

And wait a minute- where had that dream come from? She was going to have to find out because she wanted to have that dream every single night.

Annabeth smiled as she sat up and stretched, glad that her headache was finally gone. Maybe Percy had been right. She had been working a lot recently and she did need to slow down. Maybe she could take the day off today. She didn't need to be there for construction. They could manage for today.

She slowly rolled out of bed and pushed her hair out of her face. The Athena cabin was empty, so her siblings must have still been out training.

But how much time had went by? She felt totally refreshed so it had to have been longer than a few minutes. Maybe a few hours?

She changed her clothes and stepped outside, stretching in the sunshine.

"Hey, Annabeth!"

She turned around to see Percy running toward her. He had changed into cargo shorts, and he was carrying something in his hands.

She hoped she wasn't blushing. Her dream had been amazing and she couldn't help but wonder if his lips would really taste like salt.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain."

He smiled down at her, "You look like you feel better."

"I do. How long did I sleep?" She asked.

"All night. I came to get you for dinner, but you looked like you were sleeping good so I carried you back to your bunk and Malcolm told me that it looked like you hadn't moved since I put you there." He said with a chuckle.

"You carried me back?" She asked in shock.

He nodded. "Yeah."

She smiled slowly. Who knew he was so dedicated? Well, she did, but she could still act surprised, couldn't she?

Annabeth almost told him about her dream. She wanted to be more than friends! She wanted more! She wanted _him_.

But she couldn't tell him without her having a pretty big chance of rejection. What if he was just being a good friend? What if she told him how she felt and it ruined everything? Percy was all that Annabeth had left. She would die if she lost him now.

Instead of telling him the truth, she found herself saying, "Thanks."

"No problem." He said with a grin. "Are you hungry?"

She was starving. "I'm starving."

"Well you missed breakfast." Of course. No she would have to wait until dinner! Percy held a box out to her and said, "But I brought this."

She took the box from him with a squeal (What was up with that? She never squealed!) and ripped it open, inhaling the scent of the cinnamon rolls he had brought.

Percy laughed and reached out to brush her hair behind her ear. His hand hesitated on her face for a second too long and Annabeth looked up to meet his eyes.

His sea green eyes were clear. Several emotions flickered through them all at once and Annabeth couldn't recognize them fast enough before they were gone.

**Gods, she is beautiful. **

Annabeth froze. What was that? Did he say something?

"Did you say something?" Annabeth asked, narrowing her eyes.

"No," Percy said as he stared at her.

**Come on, Jackson! Just do it! Ask her!**

She heard it again! If he wasn't saying anything… then…

Oh gods.

**Why isn't she breathing anymore? Is she okay? What should I do?**

Annabeth couldn't understand this. Was she hearing… his thoughts?

"I think I'm going to be sick." She whispered. Her head was swimming with her thoughts and his thoughts, and she just couldn't take it anymore.

Annabeth's eyes closed, and she felt her body fall into Percy's arms. The last thing she heard before she passed out was Percy screaming her name and yelling for help.

* * *

**A/N: So? Bad? Good? Keep going or get this thing off of the site now? **

**Let me know in a review! Please! I'll try to update again if I get a few good ones!**

**Thank you!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**


	2. Chapter 2- Reading and Fighting Sucks

**A/N: Hey! Chapter 2! Woo!**

**Alright, just a few things. This chapter is kind of a connecting chapter, therefore it is set up weird. The format is going to change again for the next chapter, and there is a good chance that if you hate this, you'll love the next thing. Okay? Cool.**

**I also want to thank Suneater for giving me some ****_awesome _****advice. He is a life-saver, and dude, this one is for you ;)**

**Let me know what you think about this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.**

* * *

_Annabeth is walking down the beach. Her swimsuit is blue, and she can feel the waves lapping at her ankles. She can't help but smile at the nice feeling of the sand under her feet and the wind blowing back her curls. _

_ She hears, "Wise Girl!" and turns around to find her favorite person._

_ But instead of wearing his swim trunks like she expected, or smiling because he loves the beach, his eyes are wild and he is covered in blood. He runs toward her at top speed, pointing behind her and pleading with her to run away._

_ Instead of doing what he tells her, she turns around and finds a monster within two feet of her. The thing is ugly with black scaly skin and yellow eyes. Annabeth suspects that it is super-old because she feels like she knows what it is called, but it is stuck on the tip of her tongue. _

_ Annabeth realizes that she is wearing her bathing suit, so she doesn't have her knife._

_ Percy is still screaming her name, and she feels a knife plunge into her stomach._

"-seriously, Chiron. Is she going to be okay? I don't know what happened, we were just standing there and-"

"Percy, my boy, calm down. She's going to be fine. Look, she's already waking up."

Annabeth groaned and slit her eyes open. Bright fluorescent lights assaulted her eyes, and it took her a few seconds to focus.

The first thing she noticed: she was in the infirmary, lying in one of the many uncomfortable beds. Chiron was standing at the foot of her bed, and Percy was in the chair beside her. Percy looked extremely worried. He was leaned over her, so he took up most of her vision (not that she actually minded) and he was holding one of her hands. His eyebrows were scrunched together and his lips were pressed together in a line.

The second thing she noticed: her head was swimming with way too many thoughts for it to be just her. Sure, she _was _a daughter of Athena, and she did think a lot, but these some of these things were crazy.

**I'm going to cut the next person that tells me everything will be okay. If I want to freak out then I will freak out! Could Annabeth really be okay? Is she sick? I told her she had been working too much! She never listens to me, but it's so great to see her eyes again.**

Annabeth wasn't feeling any better. The initial shock of this whole thing had yet to fade, and she was so confused. Some of these thoughts obviously belonged to Percy (because she wouldn't ever be thinking about when she needed to wash her shirt or how blue pizza would taste) but some of the more intelligent thoughts weren't easy to separate.

"Percy," Annabeth groaned, tightening her fingers on his.

**Thank gods. She's okay. She's okay.**

"Hey, Wise Girl, you're okay. Tell me what happened." He said.

Annabeth looked up at Chiron before letting her gaze go back to Percy. "I don't know. I guess I just passed out."

**Why is she lying to me? I know that's not what really happened.**

Annabeth winced at that. This guy knew her to well. She wouldn't ever be able to fully convince him unless she had Chiron on her side.

**Her hands are cold.**

She took a deep breath. "Percy, will you help me up?"

**No way. She needs to stay here and rest. Don't help her up!**

"I think you need to rest for a little while longer." Percy said.

Annabeth looked up at him. Normally, she could get whatever she wanted out of Percy, but this time it looked like she was going to have to use a little extra force.

**Crap. She knows that I can't stand it when she begs. Why are her eyes so pretty? Gods, Annabeth. Fine!**

She tried to keep her smile buried. He thought her eyes were pretty?

_Annabeth! _She snapped at herself. _Do not listen to him!_

But how could she keep from hearing him? Whenever he was thinking something it just appeared in her mind. It was like reading a book. She couldn't help it! There wasn't an off switch on this thing!

Percy sighed and stood up, pulling her up gently so she was sitting. He started protesting again when she swung her legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand up.

**She better not try to-**

"Annabeth!" Percy said, snaking his arms around her so she was against his body. "You seriously need to rest."

She looked up at him. "I'm fine. Chiron, tell him to calm down."

**She did not just pull that card.**

The centaur looked pretty amused. "Percy, she's right. She's perfectly fine. Now, you go down to the arena. Your sword class has been waiting on you for half an hour."

**No way am I leaving.**

Percy scowled. "I am not leaving."

Chiron's eyes glinted mischievously, "You have my orders. Annabeth will go back to her cabin in a few minutes. Go."

**Stupid centaur. Why should I have to leave? I swear he does this on purpose so he can see me lose my cool. He knows I want to stay here with her.**

Percy's arms were tight around her and he looked back down to her eyes.

"I guess I'll see you later. Come get me if you need me?" He said as he started to let go of her.

**I can't believe I have to go. This sucks.**

Annabeth tried to ignore how much she wanted to curl back up in his arms. "Sure."

Percy huffed again and sent Chiron a glare as he walked out of the infirmary.

**Stupid horse dude. **

"I can sense you want to talk to me about something. I'm assuming it refers to Percy." Chiron said.

Annabeth nodded and twisted her hands, suddenly embarrassed. How did Chiron know? Was everything between them _that _obvious?

**I swear I'm going to come straight back up here to find Annabeth after I finish teaching this stupid class.**

Chiron nodded at her to continue and she took a deep breath.

"So yesterday I was on Olympus, and I presented Aphrodite her new temple. She loved it and gave me a gigantic hug and then threw pink dust and glitter all over me. I get back to Camp, and I'm walking back to my cabin with Percy and I get this awful headache. I figured it was just because I've been working so much, so I slept all night, and when I got up this morning, I felt great. Then Percy brought me breakfast, and… I could hear him." She said in a rush.

Chiron was staring at her with a quizzical look on his face. He obviously hadn't connected the dots yet.

**Oh hey, there's Nico. Oh gods, look at Drew's outfit. Really? Mini-skirts to training? I'm glad Annabeth doesn't wear that stuff. Kinda embarrassing.**

Annabeth tried to feel good about Percy thinking that, but she couldn't bring herself to. This was morally wrong! Those were _his _thoughts. She shouldn't be listening to him.

"Chiron!" Annabeth exclaimed impatiently. "I can hear Percy's thoughts!"

He looked confused for another half second before he rolled his eyes and tried not to laugh. "My dear, it sounds like Aphrodite has it in for you."

Annabeth couldn't help it. Here was her second father, laughing at her! He was freaking laughing at her! She stomped her foot, "Chiron! Stop laughing at me! This is serious! Can you make it go away?"

**Gods, these kids are bad at sword-fighting.**

Chiron considered it for a second, then he started to shake his head and Annabeth's heart sank. "I'm sorry, child, but there's nothing I can do for you."

**How much longer?**

Annabeth gripped her head in her hands. Her headache had stopped, but she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She didn't want this. Didn't Aphrodite realize that this was just a burden for Annabeth?

She just wanted a normal life for once. She just wanted to design Olympus, and get together with Percy when she wanted to! She didn't want Aphrodite's help!

But how was she going to get this whole thing to go away? She could go hunt down the goddess and demand that she put a stop to this whole mind-reading situation. The only problem with that would be finding her. Not to mention going outside of Camp without anybody else could get dangerous. She didn't really need any more excitement in her life.

**I just want to go check on Annabeth! Why won't these kids leave me ALONE?**

"Annabeth, you need to go rest for a while, if only to keep Percy happy. He was… understandably distraught about this. It really scared him." Chiron said.

She bit her lip, "It did?"

"Of course it did. He cares for you deeply, child."

"He does?"

Chiron laughed lightly, "Of course he does. Now, what are you going to do about this? As I see it, you have two options. Either a) live with it and learn to block him out or b) go find Aphrodite and politely ask her to fix it."

**Gods, Drew, stop flipping your hair. It looks like your neck is broken. And seriously? Stop touching my biceps!**

Annabeth tried to focus, but _really? _Drew was touching his _biceps? _Annabeth had half of a mind to march down there and throw her halfway across the arena.

She pushed her anger to the back of her mind. She would have to deal with it later.

"What do you think I should do?" Annabeth asked. She had always turned to Chiron for advice when she didn't have Percy to talk to.

**Well, no shit I'm in a bad mood, Stoll. I don't have time for you to flirt with all of the Aphrodite girls!**

Chiron rubbed his beard, "I'm not sure, child. This could be easy to deal with, but going on a quest right now could be especially dangerous. I know that you feel like this is invading his privacy and such, but maybe Aphrodite did this for a reason."

Annabeth felt her jaw drop. Did Chiron… Was he really siding with _Aphrodite? _

"Don't blame me for my opinion. Just think on this. Be logical; don't do anything rash just because you're afraid." Chiron said. He gently pushed her toward the door. "Now go rest before Percy comes back here and yells at us both."

**Eew. I'm sweaty. I should probably take a shower before I go see Annabeth… Would she notice? Yeah. She totally would. Just hurry up!**

Annabeth couldn't decide what else to ask Chiron. She nodded slowly and let him push her out of the infirmary and into the sunshine outside.

Ω

Annabeth walked back toward her cabin, mainly letting her feet take her there while her mind wandered.

She kept stumbling into Percy's thoughts. She would just be thinking about something on her own, and then bam! She would get a headful of "Man, I suck at archery," or "I wish I was at the beach."

And it was weird. She was trying to ignore them, but sometimes, Percy would be thinking about her, and it would be so hard not to listen.

**I really want a coke. Oh man, I need to call Mom! I bet she's pissed that I didn't let her know how Annabeth was doing! Granted, I don't know either, but still… Ah well. I'll get to it later. **

Annabeth was so preoccupied with all of these thoughts, she didn't even notice she ran into somebody until they grabbed her shoulders and yelled her name.

"Annabeth!"

She shook her head and focused her eyes on the person in front of her. "What?"

Nico di Angelo was grinning at her. He slowly let his hands fall from her shoulders and he took a step back.

"I'm surprised you didn't pass out on me." He said with a smirk. "Or maybe you only do that for Percy."

Annabeth felt her cheeks get red. "Shut up, Nico. I've got a lot on my mind."

**I wonder if we're going to play Capture the Flag on Friday. Wait, will Annabeth even feel like playing? We won't be able to win without her!**

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Percy's thoughts. Of course they wouldn't be able to win without her! He should really be focusing on teaching that class instead of thinking about her!

"Well, anyway, you look like death, and that's saying a lot coming from me." Nico said with a look at her. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your cabin."

She rolled her eyes, but let Nico start to lead her back to the Athena cabin. "I can make it there on my own."

"And risk Percy throttling me for letting you stumble there by yourself? No way." Nico said.

Annabeth almost blushed. Would Percy really do that? For some reason, Annabeth didn't doubt it.

**Where did Nico go? He's supposed to be in this class. Doesn't that kid know that he has to follow the rules too?**

Nico and Annabeth walked the rest of the way in silence. She hadn't ever really taken the time to get to know the son of Hades, but since the war had been won, he was spending his time at Camp Half-Blood with Percy, so they crossed paths a lot. This was probably the longest interaction she had ever had with him. A couple of years ago, they had been on a quest together in the labyrinth, but he had associated more with Percy than he ever had with her.

Since then, Nico had grown up. He was still wearing all black, and he still put out that "death vibe," but he wasn't a son of one of the Big Three for nothing. If she didn't have a thing for Percy, Annabeth would probably be interested in him.

**I wonder if I have any clean clothes to put on. I seriously need to do some laundry.**

Annabeth couldn't help but laugh at that. Seriously? Was this kind of stuff what Percy thought about all the time?

Nico sent her a weird look. "Annabeth, I think you need to take a nap or something. You're breaking under all of this stress."

"I am not. I'm perfectly fine." She said sharply. Why was everybody assuming that she needed to rest?

"You're laughing for no reason. That's not perfectly fine, Annie." Nico teased.

"Watch it, Death Breath. I can still beat you up." She threatened.

**Man, I'm tired.**

They arrived at the Athena cabin and Annabeth gripped Nico's arm as they walked up the stairs. Her head was a little bit better, but she was still dizzy enough to stumble when she walked.

"Thanks, Nico." She muttered as she let go.

"No problem. Want me to go get Percy?" He asked.

"No!" She said frantically. She didn't want to be around him right now. At least not until she got everything figured out.

Nico was staring at her with his eyebrows raised, but he just shrugged and said, "Okay. See you later."

He walked off, sticking his hands in his pockets and not looking back.

Annabeth let out a relieved breath. Thank gods for Nico and his lazy attitude.

**Thank gods! Now I can go find Annabeth!**

She let out a squeak in response to that. She wasn't ready to see him! She didn't want to see him!

Okay. That was a lie. Of course she wanted to see him, but she just couldn't stand to see him there and-

Chiron had acted like she should just keep listening to him like nothing was wrong, but how could she do that without it feeling completely wrong? She was a daughter of Athena, and she loved to gain knowledge, but really? Why would she _ever _want to read Percy's thoughts?

**My hair looks weird. Maybe Annabeth won't notice.**

Yeah. She was going to notice now.

**Of course she's going to notice. Should I try to fix it? **

Annabeth sat down on the edge of her bunk. Her heart was beating overtime and her hands were shaking like she was on a sugar high. Why was she so anxious?

Oh! _She _wasn't anxious! Percy was! She could feel what he was feeling now? That hadn't been happening earlier!

**Calm down! It's just Annabeth! Yeah, just Annabeth, the girl that I've liked for the past five years. No reason to be nervous. None at all. Oh wait! Yeah! There kind of is!**

Annabeth fell into a coughing fit. Her body had managed to react to that thought before she could even decipher it in her mind.

_Percy liked her?_

Percy Jackson, Savior of Olympus, Slayer of Kronos, had liked Annabeth for five years? But what about Rachel? Didn't he like her first? Wasn't that the reason Annabeth had held back her feelings for so long?

Now, she felt pretty stupid. Now that she knew for sure, all of the signs were there. The way he looked at her, the way he treated her, the way he touched her, they were all signs that he had always liked her. Had they always been there? And if they had, had she been too stupid or prideful to see them?

Annabeth knew he was walking up the stairs a few seconds before she heard his feet against the wood.

**Annabeth was right when she said I needed to bust up my cardio. It's kind of embarrassing for those little steps to make you tired.**

Slowly, she laid back and curled up on her side in her bunk. He was going to be able to see right through her, but she could always test out her acting skills regardless.

**Come on, Jackson. It's just Annabeth. Go check on her.**

The door swung open and Annabeth closed her eyes right before a shadow fell across her face.

**Why is she sleeping with her shoes on?**

Dang it. She had been distracted by Percy's thoughts and forgot to take them off.

Percy walked over to her bunk and sat down beside her. Before he could figure out she was pretending to be asleep, she opened her eyes.

**I knew she wasn't asleep.**

"Hey, Wise Girl." He said as he scooted a little closer to her.

Annabeth rolled over onto her back and looked up at him.

Percy's eyes were smoldering. His sea green was a shade darker, and his eyebrows were scrunched low over his eyes. He kind of looked like he was starving and he _needed _her.

Suddenly, Annabeth got a vision of Percy leaning over her and kissing her until they both couldn't breathe. So now she could _see _what he was thinking about? Great. (Not.)

**Just tell her! She has to like you!**

Annabeth stared at Percy while he continued to think about it.

**But what if she doesn't? If I tell her and she doesn't like me back, what am I supposed to do? What if I scare her away? I can't lose her like that! **

She realized that they had been sitting there in silence for at least a minute while she listened to Percy's thoughts.

Annabeth tried for a smile, but it felt forced. "Hey, Seaweed Brain."

**Why the fake smile?**

"Hey," he said again. His voice was really soft, and Annabeth felt like she could get used to hearing it like that. "How do you feel?"

She pushed herself up so she could sit beside him. "I'm okay."

Annabeth felt like the complete opposite of "okay." She felt like she was going to break at any given moment. All of this was too much to handle. Now that she knew that Percy liked her for sure, she supposed to tell him that she liked him back, right? She was supposed to feel awesome, and she was supposed to lean over and kiss him right now, right? And then she was supposed to pull back and laugh at how surprised he looked and kiss him again, right?

But she felt awful about it. How was she supposed to feel good about this? Now that she could hear Percy, nothing was a surprise. How could she not be a little disappointed that she had found out like this?

**Why does she look upset?**

"You don't look okay." Percy said.

Annabeth pushed out all of the disappointed thoughts and tried for a real smile. "No, really. I'm fine."

"What were you talking to Chiron about?" Percy asked.

That question blind-sided her. How had he known she was talking to Chiron?

"What do you mean?" She asked.

**Oh please, Annabeth. Don't pull that crap with me right now.**

Percy tilted his head to the side and his hair swooshed down in that direction. Why did he think it looked weird? "After I left. I knew that you were going to talk to him because he made me leave. So spill."

Annabeth bit her lip. What was she supposed to tell him? There was no way in Hades she was about to tell him that she could read his mind. The seaweed brain would pass out right here in the floor of her cabin.

"Oh. He was just telling me that I needed to take a few days off. He said that he was going to send a message to Zeus and Athena and tell them that I had to relax for a few days." Annabeth flat out lied. She hoped that he wouldn't be able to tell, and she was going to have to make sure she told Chiron so he could back her up in case Percy went to ask him.

**Not what I meant. What isn't she telling me?**

"Come on, Annabeth, I know something else is wrong." He said.

Annabeth shifted on her bed. While they were talking, she hadn't realized that they had scooted so much closer to him. Now, she might as well have been sitting in his lap.

She got up and walked over to a bookshelf, pretending to look for something.

She didn't even look back at him when she said, "Nothing is wrong, Percy. I told you that I'm fine."

**Why is she lying to me? I know something is wrong!**

Annabeth stared at the book she had in her hand as she tried to keep her eyes away from Percy's.

**Don't do this. You're going to make her mad. Don't-**

She felt Percy's hand on her shoulder before he spun her around so he could look at her. His gaze was intense, and Annabeth was surprised to see him so upset about this.

"Annabeth!" His voice was low.

She took a deep breath. She was not going to give in just because his eyes looked extremely beautiful or she just wanted to reach up and kiss his jaw-

"What?" She snapped.

Percy finger's tightened on her shoulder, and his other hand gripped her left hip. "Tell me what's wrong."

She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he wouldn't let go. "Nothing is wrong! I told you that I'm fine!"

**Really?! Does she really think I'm that stupid?!**

They were nose to nose, and if Annabeth leaned up about half an inch, she could have kissed him, but Percy looked way to mad to be interested in kissing her. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes kept flashing dangerously.

_Note to self, _Annabeth thought as she struggled to lean back a little. _Don't get in a fight with Percy and make him mad._

**I am so not backing down. Not this time.**

Annabeth let out an exasperated sigh. She banged her fists against his chest, knowing that it didn't hurt because of his curse. "Seriously, Percy! I'm fine! Now let go of me!"

"Not until you tell me what's wrong." Percy growled.

She didn't know what to do. She _knew _that she wasn't going to tell Percy about the whole mind reading thing, but she had never been in a fight like this with Percy. Sure, they argued all of the time, but they were never really _pissed_ with each otherlike Percy was now.

And she was a little scared. She knew that Percy would never under any circumstances hurt her, but the Slayer of Kronos had her pressed up against a bookcase, bent over her, practically growling in her face. Not to mention, that his grip kept tightening on her. Any sane person would be freaked out.

Annabeth swallowed and steeled her nerves. She was not going to let Percy know she was nervous.

"Percy, let go of me right now." She said.

**Annabeth-**

"Let. Go." She said just as viscously.

**Not until she tells me what's wrong.**

Annabeth twisted inside his step and jerked his arm around his head before twisting behind him. She was behind him and had his arm pinned against his back.

She leaned up to his ear, trying to ignore how much he smelled like the ocean. "Percy Jackson, don't you _ever _do that to me again. I told you that nothing is wrong, and now I want you to leave me alone."

**How did she manage to do that?**

"Annabeth-" Percy said. His voice was back to normal, and Annabeth was pretty sure he was about to apologize.

She didn't really want to hear it. She was tired, and pissed off at Chiron, and Aphrodite, and Percy, and all she really wanted to do was curl up in her bunk and go to sleep.

She let go of Percy and turned away from him. "Go, Percy. Get out. I'm done talking."

**What? Now she's telling me to get out? Is she serious?**

"I'm serious!" Annabeth didn't even realize she was answering his thoughts instead of his real voice. "Leave!"

**Fine! If that's what you want then fine! I'll leave!**

Annabeth flinched when Percy yelled that in his mind. She managed to catch a glimpse of his face before he stormed out.

His face was usually crowned with a crooked smile, but now, his lips were pressed together in a frown. His eyes were stormy, and his jaw was clenched so tight, she was sure his teeth were hurting.

Annabeth felt awful when the door slammed and she could see Percy stomp across the grass through one of the windows. She let a few tears drip out of her eyes before she curled up in her bunk and prayed to any god she could think of.

* * *

**A/N: Leave me a review! Thanks for reading!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**


	3. Chapter 3- Prophecies and Apologizing

**A/N: Woo! Chapter 3!**

**Alright, this chapter is kind of a connecting chapter, so it took me a long time to write it. Hopefully, the next one won't be so long. **

**Also, I do have a plan for this story. I know it's probably going to be at least another ten chapters, but after that, I'm not sure. **

**This chapter contains some language so please take that into consideration as you read. **

**And hey, guess what? It's like 9 days until House of Hades. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

* * *

Annabeth was bent over a blueprint in the forges, motioning with her hands and talking really fast. She was trying to explain how this chariot wheel was going to work to the Hephaestus kids, and she knew that they probably knew everything she was saying, but she really couldn't stop talking.

It had been three days since her fight with Percy. She hadn't spoken to him, and he was refusing to even glance her way. Annabeth knew that neither of them was planning on giving in first.

Since then, she had gotten a handle on this whole situation. She had gone and talked to Grover and he had taught her how to block some of Percy's thoughts. Everything was getting better (thought wise) and at least she wasn't hearing his every thought. If she was really focused, she could almost pretend that he wasn't there at all.

But not really. There was this constant buzzing in the back of her mind from Percy being there.

It made her sad to hear it. She missed him. She missed being with him, and if she thought she could actually make it through an apology, she would run straight to him.

Only some of Percy's more… personal thoughts got through so she could hear. Most of the time they were about her, and Annabeth had to try really hard to not blush or act on them.

Annabeth shoved a loose strand of her hair out of her face. It was getting seriously hot and she was going to need to take another shower before-

**I bet Annabeth would look really awesome in a bikini like Drew's.**

Annabeth's mind grinded to a halt. It was like someone was driving a car on the highway at sixty miles per hour and they had jammed it into park right then and there. Not a good situation.

Had he really just thought that?

Hesitantly, (she didn't like to do this) she reached out to Percy's mind. Normally, if she tried hard enough, she could get a direct line to his thoughts and emotions. It was a little like watching television or reading a book from a character's perspective.

Annabeth could see a visual of the lake. A few of the Aphrodite girls were all on the grass, lying out on towels. Sure enough, Drew was there, in a white bikini that Annabeth would have classified as garbage. Because she was in Percy's mind, her gaze traveled down Drew's body, and she kept getting hints that no one should be that skinny and a couple of questions like, where were her scars? Doesn't she have any?

**Yeah. Annabeth would totally look better. I wish she was here instead of them.**

Annabeth didn't really know what to think. Should she be happy that Percy was looking at Drew and frowning and then wishing that Annabeth was there instead? Or should she be pissed off that he was even thinking that she would wear something like that?

"Hey, Annabeth!"

She snapped back to her mind and forced the wall between her and Percy back up when someone waved their hand in front of her face.

The Hephaestus kids were looking at her worriedly. She had just stopped talking in the middle of her speech, which she _never _did.

Annabeth shook her head to try and clear her thoughts. She looked at them for a second before she shoved her chair back from the table she was sitting at.

"I don't know why I'm explaining this to you guys. You know what I'm talking about. If you guys could just have this ready by next week, that would be great, and I will leave you alone." She said as she stood up.

They all looked surprised. Annabeth hadn't ever done that before. She always had to make sure that people were doing their job exactly the way they were supposed to, and now, she was just leaving it up to them.

Gods, she was mellowing out.

Annabeth waved goodbye and ran out of the forges, desperate for some fresh air.

Once she got out into the sunshine, she sighed happily and closed her eyes. This was way better. She just needed to relax for a few minutes-

**Man, I really want to kiss her.**

Percy's thoughts crashed into hers like waves crashing on the beach. It had happened again. She let her guard down for one second and then she gets crowded by his thoughts.

The only think Annabeth could manage to think is _who does he really want to kiss? _

Frantically, she pushed her way into his mind and waded through his thoughts to try and find something.

In all actuality, Percy was thinking about her. She could see a timeline of sorts in his mind. There were memories of them together when they were younger, and then there were some things that Annabeth didn't recognize, but she _knew _she wanted them to happen someday.

**I bet she hates me. You really screwed up, Jackson.**

In those few seconds, Annabeth could feel how upset Percy was. He was so totally depressed about their fight and all Annabeth wanted to do was run up and give him a hug (and she _never_ did that).

Percy was in so much pain (emotionally, that stupid seaweed brain still had his curse) that Annabeth had to pull out of his mind when she felt tears in her eyes.

She sucked in a deep breath and opened her eyes wide.

How could she keep doing this? It wasn't fair to her or Percy!

She had to get this fixed. She was _not _going to deal with this for the rest of her (hopefully long) life.

Annabeth started to march across the grass.

Ω

"My dear, are you sure about this?"

Annabeth sat up straighter. She had come to the Big House to tell Chiron that she was going to go find Aphrodite and get this fixed. She just knew that she couldn't handle this anymore. She _had _to go.

"Yes." She said firmly.

Chiron pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He didn't want her to go try to find Aphrodite, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it.

"You understand that this will be dangerous." Chiron said. "I can't let you have a pegasus and I can't help you get anywhere but into the city. This won't be like you're just going to work on Olympus for the day."

She nodded patiently. "Of course, Chiron."

He was acting like she had never done this before. She had been on plenty of quests, and had (mostly) succeeded every single time. What could Chiron possibly be worried about this time?

Oh yeah. She had told him that she was going to go alone.

It wasn't that she _thought_ she could do it by herself; she knew she could. She had handled plenty of dangerous mission on her own, and she could do this. In all reality, Annabeth didn't want to have to deal with anybody else. She was already frustrated and having someone else around to annoy her would make everything worse.

"You should take at least one person with you." Chiron said.

Annabeth shook her head immediately.

"You realize if Percy finds out he will demand to go with you." Chiron said again.

"I'll be gone before he finds out. Besides, we're not even on speaking terms right now. He wouldn't come with me if I begged him." Annabeth admitted sadly.

The truth was that Annabeth did want Percy to come with her. It just felt weird that she was leaving Camp for a quest without her sidekick with her. But they were still fighting, and no matter what Percy was feeling, Annabeth was probably right when she said that he wouldn't want to go anywhere with her.

Chiron shook his head and rolled his eyes, "Child, if you must do things your way, then you know where to go."

Annabeth tried not to get annoyed by Chiron's attitude. She should have been grateful that he was even letting her go, but he really didn't need to treat her like a little kid. She was perfectly capable of doing this by herself!

She got up and gave him a thank you before walking out of the Big House.

Outside, the sun was shining. It was about noon, so it was pretty hot in the direct sunlight.

Over to her left, she could see most of the campers gathered at the lake. Almost everybody went there during the break they took from training, and today was no disappointment.

Annabeth wondered if Percy was over there. Was he still standing there staring at the Aphrodite girls? What if one of them actually had the guts to go up to him? What if he was so mad at Annabeth that he actually took up one of their offers? What if they were together right now? What if-

She put the brakes on all of those thoughts. This was Percy she was thinking about. He was a dense ratchet with seaweed for brains. There was no way he would pick up on a hint from one of them. And besides, he wouldn't ever do that to her.

Would he? He wouldn't right? Sure, they had a really bad fight, but sooner or later they would make-up and then they would get together, right?

**There she is. **

She turned around like someone had said her name. It was happening so often, and he sounded the exact same if he spoke out loud or in her mind. She couldn't really tell the difference between the two.

Percy was standing on the top of the hill overlooking the lake. Instead of wearing a bathing suit like the rest of the campers, he had on jeans and a camp shirt. His arms were crossed, and he was staring at her. His eyes were sad.

**Where is she going?**

Annabeth flinched and shoved the wall back up between their minds. She didn't have time to deal with this right now. Annabeth turned around and headed into the forest.

Ω

Eventually, she got to the cave.

She could hear some sort of tribal music blasting from speakers before she even pulled the deep purple curtain back.

Rachel was standing at an easel in the middle of her high-tech cave. Since she had become the Oracle, they had gotten to be pretty good friends. Annabeth suspected it was because she knew that Rachel couldn't date Percy anymore.

The red-headed girl didn't notice her until she was standing at her shoulder. And even then, she just continued to paint.

After a few minutes, she finally put her brush down and turned to Annabeth.

"Well, hey, Annabeth. Where's Percy? You two are attached at the hip now, right?" Rachel said.

Annabeth shook her head. "Not anymore. We got into a fight and we aren't speaking at the moment."

"What?" Rachel gaped. "When was this?"

She rolled her eyes. "Three days ago. If you ever came out of this cave, you would probably know. I assume everyone is talking about it."

"Sorry, I've been caught up in this painting. The Oracle keeps possessing my body right in the middle of it and ruining it. I swear she has no manners." Rachel said. "So, tell me, what are you and Percy fighting about?"

So Annabeth told her the whole story. She told her about the mind-reading situation and about Percy's thoughts and how awkward everything was and the quest to try and get it fixed.

Rachel was a good listener.

She stayed silent until Annabeth was finished. Then she said, "So you need a prophecy?"

Annabeth nodded.

Rachel sighed and moved a few feet away from her easel. She straightened her back and stared.

Annabeth waited for the creepy green smoke and the fright inducing words to hit her like a freight train, but nothing ever did.

After a few more seconds, Rachel shook her head and slumped back to her normal posture. "I guess she's not going to give you one."

"What?" Annabeth said in disbelief. "I need a prophecy before Chiron will even let me go. Rachel, I have to get this fixed."

Rachel clicked her teeth together nervously, "Well, the Spirit of Delphi is not going to give you one, but I can try my best to give you a prophecy on my own. And even then, it would just be something that you could tell Chiron so he will let you go."

Annabeth guessed that would be better than nothing. "Okay."

Rachel turned back toward her painting and stared at it for a few seconds, but then she started talking.

_"You shall go to the king_

_ And find something to bring_

_ Back home to its place._

_ But not without difficulty, you will face._

_ A fight that will cost your life_

_ With hope, everything will turn out nice."_

Annabeth gaped at Rachel. How had she come up with that on the spot? And was it true?

Rachel whistled. "Damn, I guess she did want to give you a prophecy, just without all of the theatrics."

Annabeth gulped. "Fight that will cost your life?"

"Is that what she said? Harsh."

Annabeth always forgot that Rachel never remembered the prophecy lines that she had just given. She supposed it was logical; she just couldn't get her mind around it. She had always hated all of this stuff.

**STOLL!**

Annabeth let out a squeak of pain when she heard Percy scream that in his mind. She must not have been focused on keeping him out.

Before she could stop it, she was pulled into his mind.

Percy was in the arena. He had Travis Stoll lifted two feet off the ground and pinned to the side of the bleachers. Sweat was dripping off of Travis's face, and Percy's vision was tinged with red. Annabeth could tell how mad he was, but she didn't understand why.

She searched his mind for something, for anything, but she couldn't find anything except how angry he was.

Annabeth was a little worried. What was he going to do to Travis? If he did something really bad to him-

She snapped back to her mind. She had to get down there and stop him before he went crazy.

Rachel was talking to her about something, but Annabeth interrupted. "Sorry, Rachel, something's wrong with Percy. I have to go! Thanks for the prophecy!"

Annabeth was already out of the cave before she even heard Rachel reply.

Annabeth searched through Percy's thoughts, but she couldn't find anything current. His mind was blank and empty except for all of his feelings.

She noticed that happened a lot. Percy didn't have a lot of thoughts like she did. He _felt _most things. It was probably one of the reasons he was such a good friend. He did things and acted on his feelings instead of thinking about it. And it drove her crazy.

Of course, she loved him for it, and she loved that he was that way, but sometimes, she just wanted to punch him in the face for not using logic.

**I swear to gods I'm going to-**

Annabeth listened, but Percy never finished his thought. She pushed herself to run even faster, and she finally dashed into the arena.

There were a dozen or so of their friends gathered off to the side of where Percy had Travis pinned to the wall. They were all watching through their fingers, and no one was moving to help Travis or stop Percy.

He was even angrier in person. His entire frame was trembling, and Annabeth could hear a low growl from him.

"Percy!" She yelled as she shoved her way through the campers.

**Is that her? What is she doing here?**

Percy's thoughts mellowed out a little for a second, but then his anger came back full force.

**So she's talking to me again? Oh is that how we're going to play this? Well fine. I'll do whatever she wants like always.**

Annabeth recoiled at the resentment in his thoughts. Is that really how he felt all of the time?

"Percy!" She yelled again.

Grover grabbed her arm as she ran past him and pulled her back, almost yanking her arm out of its socket. "Don't. You'll just make it worse. He won't listen to anybody."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him and jerked her arm away. Stupid Grover was _not _going to stop her from getting to Percy.

She ran up to Percy.

**Travis Stoll, I swear I will- Annabeth?**

"Percy," Annabeth breathed. "Stop."

**Stop? No. Absolutely not.**

"What are you doing here? I thought you weren't talking to me." He said coldly.

"Percy, you're mad at me not Travis." Annabeth said. "So stop."

**Of course I'm mad at you! **

"No." Percy said.

"Yes. Whatever he did, he got enough punishment. Now fight with me. I'm the one you're mad at." Annabeth said.

**My hands won't let go.**

Slowly, Annabeth reached up to Percy's hand that was around Travis's throat. She unclenched his hand, and Travis fell to the ground and scrambled away. He was sucking air in frantically, and most of the other campers left behind him.

**Why does she get to decide everything? **

Annabeth needed to talk to Percy without all of the rest of them staring at her. She glared at Grover until he got the message. He bleated nervously as he rushed the others out of the arena.

It was just the two of them facing each other then. Percy was still shaking, and Annabeth still had his hand in hers.

His voice was low and dangerous when he spoke. "Why did you do that?"

"You're mad at me. You're not seriously mad at whatever stupid thing Travis Stoll did. You're pissed at me and me alone." She said.

**Why is she right? And is she here to apologize?**

"Look, Percy, I'm really sorry about being such a jerk the past few days. You didn't deserve that and I know that I hurt you. I'm sorry." Annabeth apologized hurriedly. Her pride made the words taste a little bitter, but she wasn't afraid to say it to Percy. He was worth it.

**Yeah. You did.**

He just looked at her. His eyes were dull, and he had bruises from not sleeping under his eyes.

"I just wanted to know what was wrong and if you were okay." Percy said finally. "You didn't have to blow up at me for it."

She flinched and looked down at the ground. "I know and I'm sorry."

Annabeth hoped he would forgive her. If he didn't, what was she going to do? She couldn't survive without Percy beside her. These last few days without him had taught her that so many times over.

And how was she expecting to be able to go off on a quest without him? Could she really just walk out of here without him?

**She's apologizing. She never apologizes first.**

Annabeth looked back up to his eyes and tightened her fingers around his. "I understand if you won't forgive me."

**No! Don't let her walk away!**

He made a frantic grab for her waist, but instead of his grip being tight and scary like the last time, now it was soft and comforting. She didn't want him to ever let go.

"Annabeth! Of course I'll forgive you. I'm sorry too. I was the one being a dick about everything." He admitted.

She smiled a little, "Yeah, you kind of were."

**Well then. **

She laughed at his thoughts and circled her arms around his waist, holding on to him while she could.

**Oh gods, something is still wrong. She never hugs me like this. **

"Annabeth? Please tell me what's wrong."

Her mouth betrayed her. She was planning on telling him that everything was okay and that she had just missed him. She was definitely not planning on telling him that she was about to leave on a mission.

"I'm leaving tomorrow morning." She said against his chest.

Percy's arms tightened around her.

**Leaving? Where could she be going? **

"Where are you going?" He asked incredulously.

"On a quest to find something." She said it before she could stop herself. Why was she being so stupid? If she wasn't careful, she was going to end up giving him all of the gory details!

**A quest? She's going on a quest to find something? What is she looking for? Is she going by herself? Does she even feel like going on a quest? Lately she doesn't feel like doing anything so how could she go on a quest by herself? Oh! I bet she is going to ask me to go with her!**

Annabeth bit her lip about that. He was going to throw a tantrum when she told him that this wasn't an invitation.

"You want me to come with you?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shifted in his arms and started to pull away. "Umm, no. No, I'm going by myself."

**_By herself?_**

****"No way. I'm going with you." Percy said.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No. You're. Not." Annabeth said. She pulled out of his arms completely and glared at him. There was no way she was going to let him go with her. This was something she needed to do herself.

**I beg to differ. I'll just follow her.**

Annabeth was backed into a corner. She wanted Percy to come with her just because he was always with her and she knew him better than anybody else. She knew she needed someone else with her, but she couldn't take Percy because she would have to explain this whole mind-reading thing, and he would totally freak when he figured it out.

"Fine." Percy said smugly, obviously planning on following her.

Annabeth stomped her foot.

**Why is that so sexy?**

Annabeth froze right then and there. _What _did he just think? Was he serious?

She hoped she wasn't blushing. "I am going by myself."

"Whatever you say." Percy said with a shrug.

"_Percy Jackson!"_ She squeaked. Would he stop acting so _in control? _He wasn't!

**Gods, she is about to lose it.**

Percy crossed his arms and stared at her. "Easy way or hard way, Annabeth. Pick one."

Annabeth continued to glare at him. He was right. He was going to end up going one way or another. Chiron would be _a lot _easier to deal with if Percy went with her. She would be safer. It would be remotely entertaining; everything that Percy did was entertaining. She would be more likely to succeed if she had Percy helping her and-

No! She could do this by herself! She was a strong, independent woman and she didn't need a man to-

_Whoa, going a little crazy with the quotes there_, Annabeth thought.

**She's about to give. I can see it.**

Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved her hair behind her ear. A second later, she found herself saying, "Fine, but I can't give you any of the details. And I'm the leader. Not you."

Percy grinned at her. "All right! I'll go pack!"

She grumbled to herself annoyingly. Great. Percy was going with her.

This was going to be awesome.

* * *

**A/N: Leave me a review! Tell me what you're thinking about this story or about House of Hades or what your favorite color is. I like to read them!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**

**P.S. What do you guys think about me doing the question thing at the end of the chapters? I think those are kind of cool.**


	4. Chapter 4- Dreams and Questing

**A/N: Hey guys! It's been a while! **

**This chapter is full of references to other fandoms and such, so keep your minds open to that. I also needed to embarrass Percy a little but so look forward to that too because all of us love an embarrassed Percy.**

**Now, the actual quest does begin in the chapter, but it will really get started in the next chapter so keep that in mind too.**

**Have fun reading and remember that House of Hades is only a day away!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

* * *

Her dream started out with her and Gandalf from _The Lord of the Rings _fighting with Harry Potter and Dumbledore to try and secure the Lonely Mountain from Smaug's rage.

Everything was going smoothly. They were making good pace. Harry was killing orcs with the Avada Kedavra curse, and Gandalf was defeating evil wizards in record time. He kept shouting, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" and busting them on the head with his staff.

Annabeth thought everything was awesome. She was having the time of her life, and she just _knew _they were going to save the day.

Dumbledore told her to "hold on to her overalls," and he tossed her straight into the pack of orcs. She flew through them with her knife, destroying anything in her way.

Things got weird when everyone dissolved into pink glitter and she was standing in a room that was empty.

The room itself was big. It was lit poorly, and Annabeth kept noticing and pointing out flaws in the architecture. The arches should have been lower, and the windows should have been bigger. Then, she started to notice that the walls were crumbling to dust. It was literally falling down around her. Her shoes were already covered in the ceiling and wall dust, and she frantically jerked her feet up to try and stay on top.

_"Annabeth Chase, you see what will happen to your life if you try this." _An ancient, raspy voice spoke in a whisper. It echoed off of the slowly crumbling walls, making them go even faster. "_Both of us know that the gods are deceitful creatures. You have had to suffer this personally. Why not come to me? I could fix your problems." _

Annabeth felt a shiver travel up her spine at the sound of the voice. Who was this? What business did they have talking to her?

_"Do not doubt me, dear. I know what the cursed Aphrodite has done to you, for she has done things to me as well. Let me keep her here in this bind. Do not come for her, my sweet." _The voice purred softly as if it was singing a lullaby.

She had a thousand questions, but her mouth wouldn't move and the sand was building up around her waist now.

_"If you do happen to defy me now, be warned, everything you cherish will slowly come into my grasp and wither will you watch." _The voice said in that agonizing purr. _"Do not challenge me, child."_

Annabeth couldn't think straight. Panic started to consume her as the sand covered her head and cut off her air supply. Everything went dark, and Annabeth's screams were muffled.

Before she could gather her wit, air hit her face, and sunlight blinded her as she forced her eyes open.

She was on the beach. The sea spray was hitting her face refreshingly, and the waves were washing over her feet. It was louder than normal, like the sea was upset, and the sky was dark gray with angry clouds.

To her side, she could hear swords clashing and yelling. She took off in that direction, and when she could see what was going on, she almost fell to the ground.

Percy was fighting a group of those black, scaly monsters that Annabeth had seen in her last dream. She still hadn't found out what they were, but they fought like demons. Of course, Percy was fighting hard too. His shirt was shredded down the middle, and his hair was covered in monster dust. He had a layer of blood that Annabeth knew wasn't his all over his jeans.

"_This is what you will face if you follow your current course." _The voice whispered again. "_Be careful, Annabeth, and don't do this to him."_

Before she could even react, one of the monsters snuck up behind Percy and aimed directly for the only weak point on his entire body. He crumbled to the ground with an agonizing scream.

The sand crawled up around her ankles and dragged her down until she couldn't see anything.

Ω

Annabeth jerked awake, falling out of her bunk and onto the wooden floor of the Athena cabin.

For a second, Annabeth thought she could still hear Percy screaming, but after another second, she realized it was just her heart pounding and her own breathing.

Her siblings were looking at her worriedly, but she waved them off before any of them could say anything. She had to get to the Big House _now. _

Annabeth shoved her camp shirt over her head and grabbed her sneakers before running out of the door.

She was halfway down the stairs before reality hit her square in the face.

They were supposed to leave this morning for her quest. After she had calmed Percy down yesterday, she had gone back to Chiron, and told him about the prophecy Rachel had given her. After he had heard it, he was even more reluctant to let her go. He had finally given in when she told him that Percy was coming with her, but he still wasn't happy. So if she went up there and told him about the awful dream she had just had, there was no way in _Hades _he would let her go.

**What the heck is she wearing?**

She blinked hard and lost her balance as Percy's thoughts pushed their way into her mind.

**Gods!**

Before she hit the ground, a pair of strong arms caught her and hauled her back up on the steps.

**What does she think she is doing?**

Percy was looking down at her with concern plainly written all over his face. He had his hands gripping her lower arms from where he had pulled her up off of the ground.

Annabeth realized two things. One: she wasn't wearing a bra. Two: she had tears rolling down her cheeks.

**Oh my gods, what's wrong? Why is she upset? She's still in her pajamas! She must have had a bad dream!**

Percy's hands slipped up to her face and wiped off some of her tears. "Did you have a bad dream?"

Annabeth nodded pathetically and tried to get a grip on her emotions. Was this whole mind-reading thing causing her hormones to spin out of control? Was it a stupid side-effect or was she really just going crazy?

"Yeah, but I'm fine now." She said even though she wasn't. She wasn't going to let Percy think she was some wimpy girl who cried every time they had a bad dream.

**Yeah, okay. Like I believe that.**

He scrunched his eyebrows together and frowned when she pulled out of his arms and crossed her arms over her chest. The fact that she was standing in front of Percy with just her pajamas was really crazy, and she just needed to get away from his sea-green eyes for one second.

"Really." She said again, stronger this time. "I'm fine. Are you ready to go?"

Percy nodded. "My backpack is already at the Big House. I'm assuming we're getting Argus to take us into the city."

Annabeth nodded. She hadn't told him any details about the quest. He didn't know where they were going or why they were going or what they were doing, and so far he hadn't questioned her once. She knew he would eventually, but when he did, Annabeth was just going to make something up or break down and tell him the truth.

"Let me change clothes and get my stuff." She said as she turned around and went inside.

**Hmm. I would be okay with you wearing that the whole time.**

Perfect timing. Now her entire face was blood red just in time for her siblings to see. Couldn't Percy at least _try _to control his thoughts?

Annabeth could feel her siblings staring at her and smirking as she gathered her stuff and headed to change her clothes. She threw some jeans on and laced up her sneakers before yanking a brush through her curls. Normally, she wouldn't have even bothered, but it looked especially awful this morning, and there was no telling when she would get the chance to brush her hair again.

Was this quest really going to be that bad? Originally, she had thought it would be quite simple. All she had to do was head up to Olympus and find Aphrodite. She was almost positive the goddess would take the mind-reading situation back.

But if all of her dreams about this were real, then she should be worried. What had those even been about? Who was the voice that kept telling her not to find Aphrodite?

**Annabeth! I'm about to go in there if she doesn't hurry up! I'm hungry!**

She jerked back to her task when she heard Percy's thoughts. She shoved the rest of her stuff into her backpack. She was only bringing the essentials (laptop, Yankees cap, dagger, extra clothes, toothbrush).

She turned back around to find all of her siblings staring at her. She had told them all about this last night, so they should have been good to go.

Her gaze shifted to Malcolm, who was leaning against the wall closest to the door. "You're in charge until I get back."

He nodded, but he looked a little worried.

Annabeth looked at them all again, gave them a smile, and headed out to get Percy.

Ω

**I wonder if Annabeth is going to eat her other Pop-Tart.**

Annabeth sighed. It was getting harder and harder to block out Percy's thoughts. Unless she was completely focused on cutting him off, she couldn't manage it.

After she had finished getting ready, they had gone to the Big House. They had spoken with Chiron for the last time, and he had given them a Pop-Tart to eat on their way into New York. She wasn't very hungry, so she had only eaten one of them.

Her dream had really started to bother her. She couldn't figure out what was up. What bind was Aphrodite in? Wasn't she on Olympus with the rest of the gods? Since construction had started, most of them had been staying there.

But that was beside the point. Was the voice meaning that Aphrodite was _gone?_

Annabeth sighed and handed her Pop-Tart to Percy. She didn't have any answers to any of these questions, and she _sure _couldn't ask Percy about his opinion. "Here, you can have it. I'm not that hungry."

**Woohoo! But wait, shouldn't she eat too?**

"I said I'm not hungry." Annabeth said as she stared out of the window.

"What?" Percy asked.

Uh oh, she had just answered his thoughts instead of his real voice.

"I'm not hungry. You looked like you were about to make me eat instead." Annabeth explained in a rush. She had better learn to listen to his voice and not his thoughts or she was going to have to get a lot better at coming up with stories on the spot.

He frowned. "Oh."

**That was weird.**

Argus finally stopped at a corner relatively close to the Empire State Building. They would only have to walk a few blocks to get to Olympus.

She jumped out and grabbed her backpack. "Thanks, Argus. Take care of camp until we get back."

He grunted in agreement and took off as soon as Percy had the door shut.

**Glad he wanted to stick around.**

Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved the wall back up between their minds. She didn't want to get any more of Percy's off-hand remarks right now. She needed to hurry and get them to Olympus.

Since the war had ended, monster attacks were a little less frequent, but when you were with a son of the Big Three, that kind of put a halt in all of that. Monsters would be more likely to find Percy and Annabeth because they were both really strong demigods.

Annabeth shouldered her backpack and started walking down the street. Percy walked at her shoulder.

She wondered what the other people that saw them together thought. Did they think that they were dating and they were just going for a walk together? Or did they think they were best friends about to go on a mission?

The foot traffic on the sidewalk was heavy. People were trying to get to work and talk on their cell phone and eat breakfast at the same time. At first, it was amusing, but after the twenty-seventh time someone bumped into her without apologizing, she was getting tired of it.

**Uh oh. Please don't notice me. Please don't notice me.**

Annabeth looked up to Percy to find him staring a block or so ahead.

She immediately spotted the school building. Groups of teenagers were standing on the sidewalks outside, waiting for class to start. Was this his school?

When they got closer to the people, a group of girls pointed at them and started toward them, a few squealing, "Percy!"

**Crap! **

Annabeth raised her eyebrows and looked up at Percy. He looked truly terrified, but when Annabeth met his gaze, his face went into a completely expressionless look.

Who were these girls? Did they go to his school? Were they some of his friends?

Three of them ran up to Percy and Annabeth. They were all very pretty. They were all at least half a foot shorter than Annabeth, and all of them were brunettes with straight hair. They were all wearing dresses or skirts, and they looked very girly.

So basically, they were the complete opposite of Annabeth.

Annabeth waited to see what Percy would do. She wasn't really that worried about it. If he really liked these kinds of girls, he could have had them lining up at his cabin door back at camp. It would be interesting to see his reaction.

**Why does this always happen? I swear if one of them tries to eat my face off I'm going to get Annabeth to beat them up.**

Annabeth rolled her eyes and said, "Looks like you're a celebrity here, Seaweed Brain. Better say hi to the fans."

**Is she laughing at me? Okay, fine. I deserved that.**

The tallest girl was wearing a nametag that said "Shannon" and she had a smile that had been bleached just a few times too many. She ran up to them and gave Percy a quick hug.

"Percy! It's good to see you! We figured you weren't coming to orientation since you didn't come in with Mr. Blofis! You got taller! And your hair is longer!" Shannon said easily.

**Oh my gods, just leave!**

Annabeth wondered why he sounded so panicked. This girl was being pretty nice. She seemed legit.

"Umm, yeah. Actually, I'm not coming to orientation. We've got somewhere to be." He said carefully.

Shannon and the other girls looked at Annabeth for the first time, and then they looked back to Percy.

"Percy, does your girlfriend know that you're walking around with another girl?" Shannon asked him disappointedly.

Annabeth had time to look bewildered before Percy started to freak out.

**OH MY GODS. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. If Annabeth finds out what I told them then she is going to laugh at me until I die, and if they find out I lied then they're going to try and ask me out and then Annabeth is going to kill them. Okay, just be cool, Jackson. Play it off as no big deal then get the heck out of here.**

Percy rolled his eyes and took Annabeth's hand. She looked up at him in shock when he said, "This is her, guys. And if you will excuse us, we have somewhere to be."

Annabeth waved half-heartedly to the girls that were squealing in excitement as Percy pulled her by the hand across the street.

Had he been telling people that they were dating? Who had he told? And if he was telling people then why couldn't he just tell her how he felt so they could make it official? Was he really that big of a seaweed brain?

If she hadn't have listened to Percy's freak-out in his mind, Annabeth would have been impressed with how he handled that.

**Don't say anything about it. Don't say anything-**

Annabeth bit her lip and tried to hide her smile. Sometimes this mind-reading thing had a distinct advantage. "So, who's your girlfriend?"

**Dammit, Annabeth. You live to torture me.**

"Umm, those girls try to kiss me every day at school so I just kind of told them that I had a girlfriend to get them to leave me alone, and when they asked what her name was you were the first person to come to my mind." Percy said over his shoulder. He was still stomping ahead of her, pulling her along behind him.

"Me?" She asked slyly.

**Don't blush, Jackson. Don't you dare blush about this.**

"Honestly, I just told them so they would leave me alone." Percy said.

"So that's why you're blushing."

**Gods!**

"Annabeth! Seriously!"

She laughed and caught up to him so she could walk at his shoulder. He still had her hand in his, and Annabeth was thinking that he didn't notice.

"You didn't even let me introduce myself as your girlfriend." Annabeth said sadly.

**I am never going to live this down.**

Percy grit his teeth. "Why do I want to go anywhere with you, Annabeth?"

Ω

**Damn, Annabeth is amazing.**

Annabeth blushed when she heard Percy. They had just stepped out of the elevator on Olympus, and both of them had stopped to look.

She knew what the effect was on people who hadn't seen the new Olympus yet. She had specifically designed it to take light and bend it around the architecture so people were in literal shock when they saw it. All of the temples and bottom right wing was already finished, and all Annabeth had left to design was the gardens and a set of buildings for some of the minor gods.

"Annabeth," Percy said. He looked at her in complete amazement. "This is awesome. You should have brought me up here sooner. This is- Gods, this is amazing."

Her blush deepened even more, but she was extremely pleased with his compliments. It had taken a lot of work and time, and she was happy that it had paid off.

"Thanks, Seaweed Brain." She said. "Now let's go find Aphrodite."

He nodded and they took off toward the throne room.

Ω

Walking through Olympus with Percy was great. It was a lot better than just walking around by herself. Every time he saw something that he liked or thought was cool, he pointed it out to her and told her how cool it was.

She had put the wall back up between their minds. It was cool to know that Percy thought that all of this was awesome and she was amazing, but it got to be so distracting that she couldn't walk in a straight line if she was listening to him.

They finally made it to the throne room, and Annabeth stopped them outside of the doors.

"Okay." She said. "Here's what you need to know: This is my quest. You are here for moral support and help if I need it. We are looking for Aphrodite for reasons that you do not know at this time. We will find her. I will get the information I need, and we will go back home. You do not know anything else. If anyone asks you about this and or the information that you know you will repeat what I have explained to you at this exact moment. Are we understood?"

Percy saluted and said, "Yes, ma'am."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and pushed her way through the gigantic doors.

They walked into a screaming match.

Ares and Hephaestus were nose to nose as they screamed and growled at each other. Surprisingly, Athena and Poseidon were arguing with Hera and Hermes, and water kept going everywhere and soaking everybody. Zeus was sitting on his throne with his master bolt in his hands, looking from each one of the gods faces. Apollo was just sitting on his throne with his ear buds in. When he saw them, he gave Annabeth a thumbs-up.

"Lord Zeus!" Annabeth yelled over the noise.

**Dang, that hurt my ears.**

All of the gods stopped arguing and looked at her. Once she noticed who was here and who was gone, she got a sick feeling in her stomach.

But she continued even though everyone was looking at her.

"Why are you all arguing?" She asked.

Hera wrinkled her face and scowled in their direction. "It is none of your business, foolish demigod."

Athena was at her throat in an instance, "Do not talk to my daughter that way, _my queen. _She has more wisdom on this than you."

"Silence, Athena." Zeus commanded. "And Hera, please stop insulting everyone. Now I would like to hear what our young demigods have to say this time. Or haven't you been up here enough?"

**He ****_did not _****just say that to her.**

"Look, Lord Zeus," Percy snapped. "Annabeth and I are here for one thing. Don't you dare snap at her because you are in a pissy mood and-"

Annabeth slapped the small of his back lightly, and he stopped in the middle of his sentence. He couldn't just say stupid stuff like that to all powerful beings and expect to not get blasted.

**Annabeth! Let me finish!**

"Percy!" Annabeth hissed. "Stop!"

Percy huffed and stared at the gods.

"Lord Zeus," Annabeth said again. "Please, tell us what's going on."

Zeus stared at her as if the answer was obvious. And once he started talking she got it. She understood why all of the gods were arguing with each other and why one throne in particular was empty. Somehow, deep down inside she had known that coming to Olympus wasn't going to solve any of Annabeth's problems, but she needed to feel like she was completely out of options.

"Lady Aphrodite has been kidnapped."

* * *

**A/N: So? Leave me a review and tell me what you're thinking! Thanks for reading!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**


	5. Chapter 5-Presents and Jumping

**A/N: Hey! Chapter 5! Woohoo!**

**This is the longest chapter so far, and it was going to be even longer, but I found a good stopping point so I thought, why not torture you guys until I update again? **

**Just kidding! I do like to see the reviews that say, "Update soon!"**

**This chapter is dedicated to xXxJaceInWonderlandxXx. She is always one of the first to read and review, and she is pretty fun to fangirl with! This one is for you! :)**

**And House of Hades? OHMYGOD.**

**PM me if you need someone to freak out about it with.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

* * *

**Uh oh. Annabeth is about to lose it.**

When she heard that from Percy, Annabeth tried to calm down. She definitely couldn't freak out in front of all of the gods, but seriously? Sometimes Annabeth swore that gods were stupider than regular people. How could they even get themselves kidnapped?

Annabeth felt Percy place his hand on her lower back. It was a nice gesture, but right now she was so freaked out, she just wanted to get away from all of this.

"Where is she?" Annabeth asked with a scowl.

Hera snorted again. "Well if we knew that we wouldn't be arguing then would we, child?"

**Seriously, Hera? Do you say stuff like that on purpose? If you can't tell, Annabeth is about to rip your head off.**

Annabeth _felt_ like she was going to rip her head off. She was about to rip _all_ of their heads off if she didn't figure something out in the next few seconds.

Athena turned to look at Annabeth, and her eyes narrowed as she looked at Percy. "Annabeth, what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Aphrodite. I need something from her." Annabeth said.

"Well, we don't know where she is!" Ares snapped.

Zeus sat up in his throne and if this had been a cartoon, Annabeth would have seen a light build turn on above his head. "I've got it. You and Jackson will find Aphrodite. Apollo, give them a prophecy."

The god in question raised his sunglasses and removed his ear buds. "Oh, they've already got one. They should be good to go."

Zeus nodded, "All in favor of these two demigods finding Aphrodite?"

Before Annabeth could even object, the majority of the gods raised their hands.

"Good. Now off you go. Bring Aphrodite back here before the next meeting in two weeks. And please make sure you keep up construction, Ms. Chase."

Ω

**I'm afraid to say anything.**

Annabeth didn't have the patience to try and make Percy feel better about this situation. She was pissed enough.

Where did Zeus get off telling Annabeth that she had to trace the goddess of love around without any clue what to do? And within two weeks? How could he even fathom them being able to do all of this in _two weeks? _Not to mention the fact that he told her to keep up construction! How was she even going to manage that while she was trumping around the country looking for a kidnapped goddess?

She was lucky that she had planned for this. She had enough designs ready to go and approved to get them through a week, but maybe if she told them to slow down construction _and _tear down some extra buildings, her team could get through two weeks without her.

Assuming she came back.

This quest could be something serious, but then again, it could be a complete waste of time. Even after receiving her prophecy from Rachel, Annabeth hadn't really given it a second thought, but since Apollo and Zeus had mentioned the prophecy, it was burning through her mind.

_You shall go to the king._

Check that off her list. She had just been told what to do by the King of the Universe. Maybe he was good enough to fit the prophecy line.

_And find something to bring_

_ Back home to its place._

Annabeth was thinking hard. If she was supposed to find something to bring back home… Maybe it was talking about Aphrodite. Maybe she was going to bring her home to Olympus!

_But not without difficulty you will face._

She wasn't too sure about that part. She had faced difficulty plenty of times, but a prophecy had never outright said it before.

_A fight that will cost you your life._

Annabeth didn't even want to think about that right now. Was it- Could she really-

_With hope, everything will turn out nice._

How could everything turn out nice? If it was going to cost her life then how-

**She looks like she is about to blow steam out of her ears… I'm a little scared.**

Annabeth stopped walking suddenly.

**Uh oh.**

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Percy's thoughts. She was glad that he had let her thoughts run loose for a while without bothering her, but if they only had two weeks to get Aphrodite back (she didn't really understand that part; the gods lived forever so why rush) they really needed to get started now.

"Seaweed Brain!" She said.

**What did I do now?**

"Yeah?" He asked cautiously.

"You let me walk around with no plan for how long?" She said. "Don't you know that we have a time limit?"

**Okay, first of all, you were stomping not walking, and it wasn't like I was going to stop you. I don't want ****_my _****arms ripped off.**

Instead of saying something like that, he said, "Uh, my bad."

Annabeth rolled her eyes again. She sighed. "I was not stomping."

** I didn't say that out loud, did I? How the heck did she know I was thinking that?**

Annabeth didn't let her eyes widen like she should have. She was going to have to be more careful! If she kept answering his thoughts instead of his voice, even her dense seaweed brain would figure it out.

Apparently, Percy decided to play it off, "You were stomping."

**And I still can't figure out why I think it's sexy. It just is.**

What a dork.

"I need to find a fountain. You got any drachmas?" Annabeth asked.

Ω

Annabeth and Percy walked down the street, weaving through the cars and people.

She had "borrowed" a few of Percy's drachmas so she could make some calls. First, she called the supervisor of her team and told him about the provisions and adjustments they were going to have to make for construction. The satyr was agitated, but she made sure to tell him to blame and curse Zeus to the ground instead of her. Then, she called Rachel and told her about the current situation they were facing. She had told them good luck and to be safe.

After that, she met back up with Percy, and they had left Olympus and headed down to New York.

So here they were, walking around.

Annabeth didn't have a plan yet. She had no clue where to even begin. How could Zeus expect her to just know where Aphrodite was? He hadn't even given them a hint! How-

**Mysterious dude! 10 o'clock!**

Before Annabeth could look to see what Percy was thinking about, he grabbed her hand and jerked her into an alley, waving to the mysterious dude.

What the heck was he doing? If he was worried about the guy, why wave to him like an idiot?

**Her fingers are sweaty.**

"Relax, Annabeth." Percy said. He looked calm. "I know who it is."

Percy had her behind his back, still holding onto her hand, even though he claimed her fingers were sweaty. He was facing the street, like he was planning on shielding her from whomever the mysterious dude was. Percy had to know by now that she didn't need him to stand in front of her for protection.

"Fine, but I'm not standing behind you." She said as she started to move around him.

His other hand grabbed her waist, but he still didn't turn around. "Trust me, Annabeth. Stay behind me and things will go better and faster for both of us."

She huffed. She did not need to stand behind him like some defenseless princess.

**Annabeth, don't-**

Percy's back straightened and he sucked in a breath as Annabeth set her hand on the small of his back. Since he had bathed in the River Styx, (like an idiot) his only weak point was the small of his back. In the Battle of Manhattan, Annabeth had taken a knife for Percy, and if she hadn't, he would have died. After that, he had told her about his spot, and ever since Annabeth felt so much closer to him. She had never really understood why he chose the spot on his back, but he probably did it because it felt right at the time.

**Oh ****_gods_****, Annabeth. Stop… Wait, don't stop. No, stop, I need to focus. Oh screw it. She's just doing it to get what she wants. Don't give in!**

She fought back a smile at his erratic thoughts. If she pushed him far enough she could definitely get him to stop being such a boy, but if some mysterious man was about to come meet them it was probably be best not to distract Percy and just get over it. She could put him back in his place later (insert evil laugh here).

A shadow fell across the ground a second before the "mysterious dude" came around the corner into their line of sight.

He was tall with curly brown hair and dark eyes. He had a walking stick in his hand, and a backpack slung across his shoulders. His face was extremely angular, and his features were somewhat elfish.

He looked different than the last time she had seen him, but she would always know who he was. It was probably a good thing Percy had thought to put her behind his back. All they needed to do was get into a fight with him.

"Lord Hermes," Percy said with a slight bow. He didn't bend low enough for Hermes to flat out see Annabeth, but the god definitely knew she was there.

They hadn't been on the best terms since Luke had- Anyway, Annabeth couldn't really keep from blaming Hermes, and Hermes couldn't stop himself from blaming Annabeth.

Hermes tried for a smile, but when his gaze flickered back over Percy's shoulder for a second and he saw Annabeth, he grimaced.

**Distract them. I don't even know who would win if they got into a fight. Annabeth probably. She needs to move her hand- Ouch!**

Annabeth jerked her hand away from Percy's back when he winced in his thoughts. She had been pressing her hand down harder and harder while she was looking at Hermes.

"Hello, Percy." Hermes said. "I believe you and the girl are headed off on a quest."

Annabeth looked over Percy's shoulder and scowled. "The girl has a name."

Percy squeezed her fingers as a warning, and she closed her mouth reluctantly. Hermes was obviously here for a reason.

Hermes scowled at her and they were all silent.

Percy said, "Hey, George. Hey, Martha."

Annabeth had completely forgotten that Hermes carried a staff with his two favorite pets wound around it. Martha and George were his snakes that he kept with him.

"Alright, I've got things to do, but Athena sent me with these." Hermes said as he pulled his backpack off of his shoulder and pulled out two packages.

Annabeth leaned around Percy to look closer, "My mother sent them for us?"

Hermes nodded. He must have been talking to her now instead of just at her. "Yes. She believes it was unwise to send you on your way without any information or supplies. The others believed you two could manage without anything, but she thinks differently." Hermes handed Annabeth and Percy each one of the packages. "She said to also tell Percy to watch his back."

**Crap. Why does she hate me so much? And my back? Was that a coincidence? **

Percy sounded so freaked out in his mind that Annabeth felt a little bad for him. It had to be scary to only have one place that could kill you and then the goddess of wisdom mentions that you needed to watch out. Not the best way to phrase advice.

Annabeth carefully set her hand on his back. She was here for him, and she _had _his back.

**Thanks, Annabeth. **

Hermes continued talking, so Annabeth pulled her attention away from Percy's mind. "I will be going now. Good luck, young demigods. I hope we will be seeing you in the future."

Before Annabeth could object to him leaving, (She needed some instructions! Surely her mother had given her some) he started to glow, and Annabeth hid her eyes behind Percy's shoulder.

**What the heck? I thought he was supposed to help us!**

Annabeth looked down to the package in her hand. It was small and could fit in the palm of her hand easily. It was cardboard and had tape over the top of it that said _HERMES EXPRESS._

She took out her knife and cut the tape in half, flipping the top of the box open.

**What's in the box?**

She stared at the item before she slowly pulled it out and held it up for Percy to see.

The compass was complete Celestial bronze with flicks of color that glimmered like a kaleidoscope around the edge of the glass that covered the needle. It was incredibly beautiful, like someone had taken all of the time in the world to make it. The needle kept spinning in a circle until it finally stopped on the cursive _S _and remained still.

At first, Annabeth wondered if it was broken. A compass was supposed to point you in the direction you were headed, and Annabeth was positive they weren't heading south right now.

She spun around in a circle to see if it would move.

**What they heck is she doing now? She's going to get dizzy.**

Nothing happened. The needle stayed permanently on the _S._

"Oh!" She exclaimed as she finally understood. "I bet this tells us what direction we need to go!"

**Is that the best Athena can do? Why does she always have to make things so complicated? Doesn't she realize that my life is complicated enough because of her daughter?**

Annabeth had been feeling pretty happy with Percy here, so far he had been helping her and not bugging her about anything, but now he was back to annoying.

**Dang it, she looks pissed again. Make a joke!**

"Your mom knows I'm waterproof, right?" Percy said hesitantly.

Annabeth looked up at him. What kind of joke was that?

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" She asked.

He shook his head and tore open the paper in his package. He unfolded a towel and handed it to her. "I'm waterproof so that means I don't need towels. I just assumed that your mom knew that."

Annabeth couldn't really think straight, so of course the first thing that came out of her mouth was, "You never use towels?"

**Where the heck is she going with this? I don't understand why she seems so surprised.**

"Uh no." Percy said with a look at her.

She shrugged and tried not to blush as she looked down at the towel in her hands. It was solid white with a name monogrammed in pink cursive writing on the right corner.

"Look at this." Annabeth said as she pointed it out to him.

His eyebrows furrowed like they always did when he was confused, "What is _The Huls Dessert?"_

She rolled her eyes and pointed to it with her index finger. "Percy, it says _The Lush Desert." _

**Oops. Stupid dyslexia.**

"So what is it?" He asked.

Annabeth stared at the writing like it would give her an answer. Maybe it had something to do with where they needed to go? Maybe they needed to head south like the compass said until they found a desert. But how could a desert be lush?

"I don't know. Maybe it's a name. It's probably for advertisement because it is an oxymoron." She said.

**What did she just call me? A what kind of moron?**

She rolled her eyes and punched him on the arm. "It's a name, Seaweed Brain. Oxymoron means that the words contradict each other. A desert can't be lush in anything so therefore, it is an oxymoron."

**I hope she knows that I didn't get any of that, but her lips are really pink today.**

Why was he looking at her lips?

**No, they always are. I wonder if she uses lip gloss… Nah, I doubt it. **

"We need to get going." Annabeth said. She handed the towel back to Percy, and he put it in his backpack. Annabeth glanced at the compass again and decided that they were headed south.

**Jackpot! Athena is good for something! She sent something we can actually use!**

"Hey, look at these." Percy said. His voice was filled with excitement now.

Annabeth glanced back over at Percy and looked down to his hands. He had two slips of paper in them, and he handed it to her excitedly.

"Bus tickets?" She asked as she turned them over.

**Road trip!**

"This hardly qualifies as a road trip." Annabeth said as she rolled her eyes playfully.

**Umm, that was weird. Am I saying things out loud that I don't remember, or does she just know me so well she can guess what I'm thinking?**

Annabeth cursed herself for what felt like the twentieth time that day. She had to be more careful or Percy was going to think that something was up. Which, something _was _up, but he didn't need to know that right now.

"Come on, Wise Girl." Percy said with a grin. "It'll be fun! Let's go!"

And so they started off toward the street with Percy leading the way. Annabeth had a strange feeling about this whole situation, but she couldn't really decide if it was good or bad.

Ω

Annabeth figured out that the strange feeling was bad.

Or at least it wasn't good in her book. They had walked a couple of blocks to the closest legit bus station out of the city. Hermes had gotten them two tickets outside of the city for a bus to take them to Nashville, Tennessee. She didn't really understand what was in Nashville, (if anything was at all) but she was hoping to have a plan figured out by then.

They had been on a charter bus for roughly six hours. They had left New York sometime around noon, and now they were just about to pass through Richmond, Indiana. Annabeth was thinking that they had made pretty good time (the ride wasn't that bad). She had spent most of the time staring out the window listening to Percy talk (or think) or asleep against his shoulder. He didn't seem to mind, and he was the perfect height so her neck didn't hurt when she leaned onto him.

She had been thinking that the first time they had been on a bus on their very first quest together hadn't turned out to well. That time, they had been attacked by the three Furies and targeted as fugitives for a nationwide manhunt.

Right now, Annabeth was sitting up, watching the sun set. Once they got outside of the city and onto the interstate, the buildings didn't block the surroundings. If she tried hard enough and ignored the hum of the bus engine or the gentle conversations between people, she could pretend she was back at Camp Half-Blood, chilling by the lake or at the top of the hill under Thalia's pine.

**Are we there yet?**

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Percy's sudden thought. He was curled up on his side, facing her, careful to keep his back solid against the seat. He had been asleep off and on for the past few hours and Annabeth kept getting random thoughts here and there. If she wasn't paying attention, she would accidentally slip off into his mind, and she would find herself in one of his dreams.

She knew that his demigod dreams were extremely vivid and highly prophetic, but right now, he seemed pretty calm. Lately, his dreams had been filled with going back home and laying on the beach or walking through the streets of New York or sitting at home with his mom.

Most of the time, Annabeth found herself in the dreams with him. She would be holding his hand or sitting in his lap or just talking to him. It was nice, and even though Annabeth absolutely _hated_ herself for listening to his thoughts, she liked that he was thinking about those things. She liked that he thought about her a lot.

**She looks awesome right now.**

Annabeth looked over to Percy again to find him slanting his head up and staring at her. His eyes were held half open, and he looked rested.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said softly. She didn't want to speak to loud and wake up any of the other passengers. "Sleep good?"

**Oh yeah.**

"Mmm. We almost there?" He asked just as softly.

"We're about to pass through Richmond. Apparently, we're stopping there before we head on to Nashville." Annabeth said.

"Still no idea about why we're going to Nashville?" Percy asked as he sat up and stretched his arms above his head.

She shook her head and pulled her legs up to her body, wrapping her arms around her knees. She was getting a little tired of sitting still.

**When is this quest really going to start? Nothing exciting had happened since we met Hermes back in New York!**

Annabeth winced at his thoughts. He was right of course. This quest had been pretty laid back so far. She felt like they were just going to a road trip instead of trying to find a missing goddess.

But Percy had probably just jinxed them by being so blunt about it. Their luck was never good, and Annabeth didn't doubt that the gods were going to make this difficult anytime soon just because they were bored.

Percy and Annabeth sat in their seats and lazily carried up a quiet conversation until the bus stopped in Richmond. She noticed that a few people didn't get back on, while some new people joined them. As soon as they were back on the interstate, cruising at a soothing 75 miles per hour, Annabeth felt sick. She felt like they shouldn't have gotten back on this bus at all.

**What's that noise…?**

Annabeth strained her ears to hear an almost non-existent hissing sound that she had heard a million times before.

"Uh, Annabeth…" Percy whispered and nudged her.

She grabbed his hand and said, "Shh. Just be quiet. Let me figure something out."

**Okay, but-**

Annabeth's mind was already racing. If there were monsters on the bus, then what were they supposed to do? They couldn't fight with all of these mortals on board, and if they just gave up they could be killed.

She leaned up casually. The windows didn't open from the inside, and the exit hatch in the roof was at least six seats back from where they were sitting.

The hissing was directly behind her now. Their only option would be going out the escape hatch. Hopefully Percy would catch on to what she was about to do.

Annabeth jumped up lightning fast, yanking out her dagger and stabbing the old hag in the chest.

**_Annabeth! _**

She didn't have time to answer Percy. There were four more _empousai _on the same seat plus the other six in the two seats behind them and beside them.

How did so many manage to get on here without Annabeth noticing? How could she have been so oblivious? That was Percy's job!

**Annabeth! Watch out!**

Percy finally got up from his seat and turned to cover Annabeth's back. She heard him uncap Riptide and slice one monster.

The others had backed off now, aware of their weapons.

The passengers on the bus were screaming and twisting to get away from them. The bus kept swerving from side to side, and luggage was flying everywhere.

Annabeth knew they couldn't stay on this bus any longer. If they didn't get off, it was going to wreck and kill everyone. But if they did try to get off they could be killed anyway.

Well, could be killed sounded a lot better than would be killed.

**Annabeth! This is the time for a crazy plan if you haven't noticed!**

"I've got one!" She said to Percy, answering his thoughts instead of his voice.  
"See that escape hatch? We're going out of it."

**_What?_**

****"We can't make it through there!" He said.

Annabeth kicked an empousai in the face while she grabbed their backpacks and tossed them to Percy. He could carry them a lot easier than she could and fight at the same time.

**Oh my gods!**

Percy jerked her backward by her waist in the same second that a pair of claws raked her side.

Pain exploded through her right side directly above her hip bone. The wound felt like it was on fire, and she could hear the sound of the _empousai _laughing loudly.

She understood what had been about to happen. If Percy hadn't pulled her back, then the demon's claws would have ripped directly through her chest.

**_Annabeth! _**

****Even though they were in the middle of a fight and she was about to lose an insane amount of blood from her new wound, she took a second to look up at Percy.

**Oh my gods. She's bleeding. I didn't save her this time. Why didn't I save her? Why wasn't I paying attention? Oh my gods. What am I going to do? She can't die. She can't. She promised she wouldn't leave me. She promised. **

He looked terrified. His eyes were wild, and his shoulders were hunched over like he couldn't take this anymore. His thoughts were just as bad. He was so scared, Annabeth just wanted to stop right here and tell him that it would be okay.

But things weren't okay right now. If they managed to get out of this mess then Annabeth could give him a hug then and tell him everything. If they got out of this, she was going to make _sure _he knew everything.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled as she dodged another _empousai's_ claws. "Get it together! We have to _move!"_

When he heard her voice, his eyes darkened and his jaw set.

Suddenly, Annabeth could see everything that made him a hero. Right now, his mind was set on autopilot, and he had one constant thought running through his mind.

**Annabeth. Annabeth. Annabeth. Annabeth.**

She had always known that he was a great hero, and she had seen him in battle so many times she couldn't count, but she had never really paid attention to him in battle mode before. He had this incredibly angry look on his face, and his eyes were dark, and he just kept slashing his sword through the demons.

Annabeth was thinking that he looked, well, _sexy._

It really wasn't any wonder that she thought violence was a turn on.

They slowly waded through the monsters toward the escape hatch. Theoretically, the way they were fighting should have gotten rid of all of them, but every time one of their sisters were killed, the rest became a little smarter each time. They moved back with them, oblivious to where they wanted to go.

"Go, Annabeth!" Percy shouted as he stepped out in front of her. "I'll follow you!"

She was too tired and light-headed to argue. She pushed her way around the screaming mortals in the seats and stood up on the edge of the seat. She had held her hand to her wound to try and slow down the bleeding, but right now she needed both of her hands to try and get them out.

Annabeth pushed her hands against the latch of the escape hatch until it finally gave under the pressure. When it was finally open and Annabeth could feel the wind whipping her curls around her, she wondered how she could have been so stupid. How were they supposed to get off of a bus if it was driving seventy-five miles per hour on the interstate? They would die if they tried to jump off of this bus.

Oh well. Getting squished to death sounded way better than sliced to death.

"Come on, Percy! Let's go!" She yelled to him.

He looked up to her and then round-housed kicked the front row of the _empousai _before pushing her foot up and climbing up.

Annabeth desperately held onto one of the crevices in the roof of the bus. The wind whipped her hair into her face and she frantically pushed it out of the way.

"Now what?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shrugged and pressed her hand back to her side. "I don't know! I never thought this far through!"

Percy looked over the edge toward the row of trees and grass. Assuming they could get over three lanes of interstate traffic, it would be the best place to go.

**We can do this. I did not defeat all of those monsters just to die because of a few demons and interstate traffic!**

"Hold on to me." Percy said as he grabbed her.

Annabeth's eyes widened when she heard the plan he had. It was crazy! They were definitely going to die!

"Percy! No!" She said.

He tightened his grip on her and tucked her head into his neck. One of his arms had a death grip on her waist, and the other was curled around her head.

Just as the _empousai_ busted through the escape hatch, Percy leaned down and whispered, "It's going to be okay."

Then he jumped.

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**A/N: Give me some thoughts about anything! Tell me what you want to see next. Tell me about House of Hades. Leave me a review!**

**Thanks for reading! **

**-SomethingMoreCreative**


	6. Chapter 6- Scars and Sleeping

**A/N: Hey! What's up?**

**Okay, so this chapter is about 1,000 words shorter than the normal chapters that I upload, and nothing really happens in this chapter except for some Percabeth action, but still.**

**Don't leave me hanging though! Next chapter... MWAHAHAHA!**

**But, this chapter is dedicated to Elmlea, who always reviews/favorites/follows everything I ever post. So, thanks! This one is for you! :)**

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Rick Riordan. **

* * *

_Annabeth was running through the woods, laughing at something Percy had just yelled to her and trying to stay away from him. _

_ She laughed again and looked back, expecting to see him almost right behind her, but instead of Percy, there was a horde of monsters chasing after her._

_ Her laughs turned silent, and her heart started racing. Adrenaline was kicking in, and she could feel her blood racing through her veins. She had to get out of here._

_ The branches and roots snagged at her body and clothes. More times than she liked, she fell down to her knees and struggled to get back up from the ground before the monsters caught up to her. _

_ She wasn't even really sure what they were, but she knew she needed to get away from them as fast as she could._

_ But she couldn't. Something was wrong. Something was bad wrong. She had to take a break from this. She had to stop running for just a second. Annabeth slowed to a stop and bent over to her knees._

_ Blood was everywhere. She was bleeding crazily, and she knew she was about to pass out. _

_ Just as the monsters reached her, and she felt the claws and weapons rake through her skin, she passed out and suddenly, she wasn't there anymore._

_ Instead, she was in a different set of woods. These were happier; the trees were bigger and prettier, and sunlight filtered through the trees. She could hear a few bird calls, and a couple of squirrels raced past her feet._

_ She wasn't bleeding anymore. In fact, her body wasn't even hurt. Sure, she was extremely sore, but she could deal with that._

_ "Annabeth!" Someone said._

_ She turned around and felt a smile cover her face. Percy was running toward her. He looked okay. He looked perfectly fine. When he got to her, he threw his arms around her and lifted her up off the ground, crushing her in a hug._

_ "You're okay. You're okay. You're safe." He whispered in her ear. It sounded like he was trying to reassure himself more than her. _

_ She pulled back enough to look down into his eyes. Then, she did something that surprised her. _

_ She kissed him._

_ His lips were salty. He tasted a little like the ocean. _

_ While they were kissing, Annabeth heard his voice out of nowhere. "Annabeth. Annabeth. Annabeth, please wake up." _

Her eyes fluttered open, and the world was spinning.

Percy was leaned over her. His mouth kept moving, but Annabeth couldn't hear him yet. Everything was hot. It felt like she was running a fever, and her side was really hurting. She felt like she was sweating, and she couldn't quite catch her breath.

She blinked a few more times, and after a couple of more deep breaths, she could see and hear considerably well.

"Percy?" She asked. Her voice was hoarse; it felt like she had been drinking fire.

He nodded and let out a breath. "It's me. You're okay."

His statement sounded more like a question.

Annabeth was lying on the ground in the grass. She had something under her head, like a pillow. She could feel her side aching a little, but she had been expecting it so it didn't feel as bad as it probably should.

**Thank gods she's okay. I thought I had killed her for a few seconds.**

Killed her? What did he do?

Slowly, Annabeth realized that it was dark outside. She could only see Percy because of the flickering light from the fire in the background. How long had she been out? And more importantly, where were they? What had happened after he had decided to jump off of that bus?

"What happened?" She said with a groan.

**Is she really okay? Did she get hurt somewhere else? Did I really give her too much ambrosia? What if she doesn't remember anything? Oh gods, what if she doesn't remember me? What am I going to do? I can't finish this quest if she doesn't even remember me! I don't know what to do! I need-**

Annabeth shoved the wall up between their minds. She was already so exhausted, and she did not need to deal with all of Percy's freaked out thoughts. She just needed to make him feel a little bit better.

"I'm fine, Seaweed Brain." She said as she looked up at him and tried to smile. "Tell me what happened after you decided to jump off of a bus that was going seventy-five miles per hour."

**Thank the gods. She's back to making fun of me! She's okay!**

"If I hadn't have jumped we would both be dead!" Percy said as he rolled his eyes. His smile was way too big for her to believe that he was really annoyed. "Both of us know that I'm perfectly fine."

Of course he was perfectly fine. She had momentarily forgotten about his curse.

"After I jumped, you passed out. I ran through the woods as fast as I could, but a couple of the _empousai _followed me. I got rid of them, but you were still bleeding really badly. I gave you a lot of ambrosia, probably too much, but it didn't work. Finally, I found this creek and I prayed to my dad and somehow the water healed you like it heals me." He said. His face twisted with agony again, like she had seen when she was first waking up. "I thought I had killed you."

**Don't cry, Jackson. Don't you dare cry right now. She's fine. She's right in front of you. She's right here.**

It took a lot of Annabeth's energy (a lot more than she should be using right now) but she felt like she needed to make Percy feel a little better. His eyes were watery, and to tell the truth, it was scaring her a little.

After all of these years of fighting and questing together, Annabeth had never once seen Percy cry. They had seen a lot of sad things and done a lot of dangerous things, but Percy had always, _always _put on a brave face and acted like everything was okay. But right now, he had given in to his fear and emotions. Annabeth tried not to think that it was all about her, but it so was. How messed up was it that she kind of liked the fact that Percy was this upset over her?

She reached up, ignoring the pain that flared up in her side, and set her hand on Percy's cheek.

** I seriously want to hold her right now.**

Annabeth looked up at Percy, honestly wondering if she had enough strength to haul herself up and crawl into Percy's arms. She could do it, but not without hurting herself several times over.

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't hurt me. You saved me." Annabeth said gently. Her voice was still rough, but he would get the message. "How bad is my side?"

He sighed, and his gaze flickered to her middle.

**Maybe she won't cut my hand off for doing this.**

Carefully, and with a few glances at her face, he reached down to the hem of her shirt (Had she been wearing this one earlier?) and pushed it up, revealing her stomach.

"Your other shirt was soaked in blood and poison." He tilted his head to the side as he looked at the cuts. "They healed over except for the scars, but I think they were filled with poison so that's why they're so sore."

**Good gods I should have done a better job of healing her. These are probably going to be there forever.**

Annabeth stiffened a little when his fingers ghosted over the scars on her stomach. He ran his hand from the top of the scar all the way to the bottom which just reached her hipbone.

She pushed herself up onto her elbows so she could see, and Percy looked back up to her eyes, but his hand didn't move.

**What is she going to say? Is she going to cry? Oh no, if she cries I'm going to cry.**

Annabeth had never been one to do what Percy expected so of course she said, "Well, I guess I won't be wearing a bikini to swim in for a while."

**Gods, Annabeth. I love you.**

She desperately threw the wall up between their minds. It was getting harder and harder to keep his thoughts out of her mind. Especially the thoughts like _that; _those kind of thoughts just tore right through her carefully constructed wall without remorse.

And don't get her wrong. She liked to hear him think that, but it made her a little sad. Why couldn't he just tell her how he felt? Why couldn't one of them just give up this game and admit it? He _had_ to know that she liked him back. It felt so painfully obvious to her that even her dense seaweed brain had to pick up on it. But what if he didn't? What if he legit thought that she didn't feel the same as him? There was no way in Hades she would be the first to say anything, so obviously that only left one solution.

She was going to have to give him hints. And they were going to have to be blunt and scarily obvious for him to pick up on them.

Percy smiled a little, but his eyes still looked sad. "I'm sorry."

"Hey," Annabeth reprimanded immediately. All they needed right now was for his fatal flaw to start acting up like it always did; especially after Athena had already given him a warning to watch his back. "Stop saying sorry. If you didn't save me, I would be dead."

He flinched again, but started to nod. Her hand started to slip down his face, but he grabbed it and held it to his heart.

**Is she okay? Of course she's not okay. She almost died for gods sake!**

"Percy," Annabeth said with a sigh. "I said that I'm fine."

**You don't look fine.**

She didn't really feel that fine either. Her side was killing her, and her entire body was extremely sore, but if she looked as bad as she felt, then Percy felt a thousand times worse. He didn't have any wounds on his body, but his curse caused him to be so much more tired when he finally slowed down. Right now his eyes were drooping, and his shoulders were curling in.

Annabeth felt a little guilty. She hadn't even helped him when he carried her from the bus and fought without her! Sure, she had been unconscious, but he had to have been tired then. Not to mention that he had been worrying out of his mind about her and healing her and then waiting for her to wake up must have been awful. He was exhausted. And all she had been doing was sleeping!

"I'll take watch. You should get some sleep." Annabeth said as she tapped her fingers against his chest.

**She can't honestly keep watch right now! She is as exhausted as me!**

"No, I'll do it. You need to rest." Percy said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Percy. I'm fine. Let me take watch so you can get some sleep. If anything goes wrong, I'll wake you up."

His scowl returned as he stared at her.

**I do need to sleep… She's taken watch plenty of times before. She's right. She can wake me up if she needs me. Okay.**

He made a big show of accepting as he sighed and shook his head. She had to hold back her laugh because he was basically screaming thanks to the gods in his mind when he thought about going to sleep. "Fine."

**Umm, I don't want to move away from her. Would it be weird if…?**

Suddenly, Annabeth saw a vision of Percy was laying down beside her and wrapping his arms around her. It felt so good that she was tempted to go ahead and tell him to do it. But then she remembered that he didn't know about the mind-reading thing yet. Gods, he was going to be so embarrassed when-

Oh gods! Annabeth had made a promise that she would tell Percy everything if they got out of their most recent death defying experience. How was she even going to begin to explain this whole thing? It would be crazy and-

"Umm, okay. Did you bring a sleeping bag with you? You're in mine." Percy said.

She knew she had forgotten something! She shook her head, "No, I forgot mine. Just sleep right here beside me."

**Is she serious? Is this a test? I bet she's testing me. But what am I supposed to do? If I lay down beside her then she's going to think that I like her. Well, I do like her, but she can't know that! But what if I go over there and we're attacked in the middle of the night and she can't yell for me? Huh? What then? **

Annabeth suppressed a groan. And he honestly thought that _she _overanalyzed things?

She tapped her fingers against his chest again. "Honestly, Seaweed Brain, I'm not going to bite you. Besides, if I need to wake you up, you'll be right here and I won't have to get up."

**She makes it sound like she needs me to stay right here.**

Finally, Percy seemed to accept that it would be okay for him to sleep beside her. He pushed her shirt back down over her stomach, and slowly pushed his feet into the sleeping bag with hers. One of his arms wound under her back and curved around her hip, and he gently set his other hand on her side right above the place where her wound started.

Annabeth wanted to sigh. His arms felt so right around her, and she was wishing that they wouldn't ever have to move.

**How does she always manage to smell like lemons? We were just in a freaking battle!**

Percy looked up to her, "Is this okay? Or do you want me to move and-"

Annabeth pulled the sleeping bag up around his shoulders and moved her hand to rest on his back. He had his face buried in her side under her arm. "It's fine. Go to sleep, Percy."

**She's warm. I could get used to sleeping beside her every night. **

Annabeth knew that she could get used to sleeping beside Percy every night too. For some reason, she felt… _whole _when Percy was beside her.

The fire was flickering. The night sky was clear, and the stars were shining. The woods were making noises, and the wind was blowing softly. If she stopped thinking about this quest, she could almost believe they were back at home camping out in the forest together.

It was peaceful. With Percy's soft snoring and muttering and his arms around her, everything was nice.

She fell asleep thinking about the next Capture the Flag match, and if they would be home in time to play.

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**A/N: Let me know what you're thinking and thanks for reading!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**


	7. Chapter 7- Keys and Admitting

**A/N: Finally! An update!**

**I am apologizing for the calamity that was the last chapter. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it. ;)**

**Also, I think I have decided to just update as I finish the chapters, but I would like to know what you guys think about it anyway. You could possibly change my mind with a few reviews.**

**WARNING: This chapter contains some profanity and mature themes. It is rated T for a reason. Please keep that in mind.**

**This chapter is dedicated to the three different guests that are reviewing every single chapter like it's their job. I appreciate the reviews! You guys keep me writing! So thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

* * *

Annabeth's eyes fluttered open, and she smiled because the sun felt nice on her skin.

Actually, everything felt nice. There was a small breeze blowing, ruffling her hair softly. She could see that the fire had died down, and there was just a light, steady stream of smoke floating up into the air. Percy was still curled up at her side, and he was probably drooling on her shoulder, but she felt too good to even move.

Of course, if she had just woken up then that meant that she had fallen asleep while she was supposed to have been on watch, and they could have been killed.

She reprimanded herself lightly, but she really wasn't feeling it. If Percy's snoring had any correlation to how he was feeling, then he was fine.

Annabeth looked up through the trees, and something caught her eye as it flashed in the sunlight.

A brown and white speckled owl was sitting on one of the branches in a tree about six feet from her sleeping bag. It titled it head to the side and hooted convincingly.

Owls were Athena's sacred animal, and if there was an owl ever around Annabeth, it was safe to bet that her mother had sent it for some reason or another.

Annabeth carefully moved her arms from Percy's back and slowly untangled her legs from his. Sometime in the middle of the night, they had twisted together, and gotten even closer. It had been great up until now. This was going to be murder to try and get out of without waking him up.

She scooted her body over, holding back a squeak of pain. How was her side this sore? Percy said that he healed her! Maybe it was just her muscles that were so sore.

Annabeth bit her lip and unzipped her side of the sleeping bag. Then she carefully moved Percy's head off of her shoulder and onto the backpack she had been using as a pillow. His arms still had her circled, and Annabeth had to unclench his hands from her body just to get out of his grasp.

Once she was sure she was out of Percy's way, she rolled over and out of the sleeping bag.

When she ended up on her stomach with only her thin t-shirt separating her wound from the hard ground, she groaned.

After another second, she hauled herself up onto her feet and stumbled before she headed toward the owl.

"Mom?" She said softly as she looked up to the owl.

It hooted again and dropped something into her hand before it flew off and landed on the ground beside Percy. It hooted in irritation, and Annabeth swore that if owls could glare and roll their eyes, that was what this owl was doing.

"Mom," Annabeth said again. "He saved me yesterday, cut him some slack."

The owl looked at her again before it flew off through the trees.

That owl had to have been from her mom. Especially considering the way that it had glared at Percy before flying off. Why did her mom hate him so much? Could she honestly think that Percy wasn't right for Annabeth?

She clenched her fist and remembered the owl giving her something. Once she looked down, she found a set of car keys in her hand.

"What the heck, Mom?" Annabeth muttered. "I don't even have a car."

**_Annabeth!_**

She flinched suddenly when she heard Percy scream that in his mind. As she turned around to look at him, he had shot up from the sleeping bag and was crouched close to the ground with his sword out.

"Well good morning, Seaweed Brain." She said casually as she shifted through his thoughts.

**Oh gods, I thought she was gone!**

He blushed and straightened as he put his sword away. "I woke up and you weren't there."

**Great. You sound so pathetic. Now she's going to make so much fun of you. Nice going.**

Annabeth was actually thinking that he was sweet for thinking that. She normally wouldn't have ever _told_ him that, but… she wanted him to pick up on the fact that she liked him, right? Maybe it was time to do stuff that she normally wouldn't do.

She looked at him seriously, "I'm sorry. I think Athena sent an owl with something for us."

**Did she really just do that? She apologized? **

"What?" Percy asked as he walked over to her.

He was way taller than her, and when he was standing directly in front of her, her eyes barely came up to his neck. She tilted her head up to look at him.

"I said that I'm sorry for not waking you up." She said.

He shook his head, "No, I got that. What was the part about Athena?"

**Even weirder than before.**

Annabeth held the keys out for him to look at. "I got up and an owl was sitting in that tree with these keys, but I think she's lost it. I don't even have a car."

**Hold up. I've seen that before.**

Percy was holding the keys close to his face, peering at the key chain that was connected to the key ring. Annabeth hadn't even thought to look at it.

**This is a key chain from that gas station I passed on the side of the road on my way here! I knew I had seen it before!**

Annabeth gasped, "That's brilliant, Percy!"

**What?**

Percy froze and looked down at her. "Uh, I didn't say anything."

Annabeth was freaking out. What was she going to say? How was she going to say that she had been reading his mind? Should she even tell him? He didn't know, but he looked so freaked out it wasn't funny.

She was thinking a million miles an hour, "You were about to say the gas station that we passed is where the key chain is from, right?"

**She shouldn't know anything about that. She had been about to die when I ran by it. I wouldn't have even noticed it if it hadn't have been for that dude that made me so angry. **

"Oh my gods, Percy! You're a genius!" It was out of her mouth before she could even stop herself.

**What the heck? How does she know this stuff?!**

"What are you talking about?" Percy said as he looked at her like she was crazy. "I didn't even say anything."

Annabeth froze. How in Hades' gym shorts was she going to explain this? She could just man up right now and tell him everything like she had said she would, but…

Or she could pretend.

"I could tell what you were thinking." Annabeth said as casually as she could. "You're facial expressions give you away so easily. Besides, we've been best friends for five years. I know you, Seaweed Brain."

**I guess that's true. Has she always been able to do that? Does she know me that well? Thank gods she wasn't actually reading my mind. I was scared for a minute. I think about some crazy stuff when I'm around her. **

Before Percy could question her anymore about it, Annabeth spoke up and took the keys from him. "So you're thinking that Ares was at the gas station we passed on our way here? He's the one that sent the keys?"

**No wonder I was so mad! It was Ares doing it!**

"Um, yeah. I guess. So you think that he's still there and we should go see what he wants?" Percy asked as he handed to keys back to her.

She nodded and took the keys from his outstretched hand. "Yeah. It wouldn't hurt. All we know right now is that we need to keep heading south."

**I like those jeans she's wearing.**

"Okay." Percy said. He turned back to watch her as she gathered her backpack.

**Why is she moving so slowly? Is her side bothering her?**

Annabeth tried to move a little faster, but she was really stiff and sore from the fight yesterday. It didn't make since. She should have been fine. Percy had healed her, and she should be okay now. So was it just in her head? Was she just thinking about it too much?

"Are you okay?"

She turned to see Percy studying her. She just nodded and turned away from his intense gaze as she said, "I'm fine. Just a little sore from sleeping on the ground after that fight yesterday."

**Her voice is wrong. Why is she lying? **

Annabeth jumped when he spoke again. He was directly behind her, so close that she could feel his chest brush against her back.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

His voice was deep. Annabeth could almost feel the vibrations that his voice caused through his chest. Sometimes she forgot that Percy had turned into a man. Sometimes she still thought of him as the scrawny twelve year old she had nursed back to health after one of his first monster fights. And when she did remember that he was grown up now, she always had to take a minute and admire him. He _had _really grown up. He was already taller than her, but his chest was bigger, and his shoulders were broader. He looked like a swimmer, and his arms were ripped from all of the sword fighting and training that he did.

Good gods, she sounded like such an Aphrodite girl.

**Is she checking me out?**

Annabeth blushed despite herself. "I'm fine, Percy."

**Whatever. I should probably check on her stomach anyway just to make sure.**

"Let me see your scar just to make sure they look okay." Percy said. He grasped the hem of her shirt and was about to pull it up before she pushed his hands away.

"I said that I'm fine. Now, let's go find Ares and that gas station. We don't have that much time." She said as she grabbed her backpack.

Ω

**How does she keep guessing all of my jokes?**

Annabeth sighed and made a mental note to let him have the next few without her telling him the answer.

They were walking along the side of the road. They had just gotten out of the woods, and Percy had told her that they had to walk a few miles to the exit off of the interstate to find the gas station that he had passed.

Since they had left their camp site in the woods, they hadn't come across anything mysterious. It seemed a little strange to Annabeth because if they had been on this quest a few years back, then everything under the sun would have been going wrong. They would have been in way more monster attacks than they had been, and they would have had a lot more near death experiences by now.

Instead, this felt like a normal hike. Percy kept telling jokes, and Annabeth kept getting them right because she could read his mind.

She also kept noticing that he was thinking a lot more about how she knew all of this stuff. He kept coming back to the same point: _she must know me to well so she can guess what I'm thinking. _

Percy had no idea.

**Got one!**

"What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor?" Percy asked.

Annabeth pretended like she didn't know the answer already. She stepped over a rock and looked back to him for a second, "What?"

"'Where's my tractor?'" Percy said with a grin.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and laughed, "That's not even funny!"

"Then why are you laughing?"

**I think we're almost there. I remember running past that water pipe. **

Annabeth wanted to thank the gods. Normally, Annabeth was a trooper compared to Percy. Since the war ended, she had started running five miles every morning, and this slow walk was like cake compared to that. Right now though, Annabeth was still so sore that she could lie down and not get back up again.

**Annabeth looks tired.**

He was right; she was freaking exhausted. Since Percy had started to consider that she "knew him so well," she could barely block out any of his thoughts. She was hearing almost everything he was thinking, and it was getting _super_ annoying. She couldn't even distinguish between what he said and what he thought anymore.

And she could tell she was just about to lose it. She was about to mess up so badly because she was so tired of this.

Before Percy could say anything, his thoughts narrowed and suddenly all he could think about was punching somebody's face in.

Annabeth scowled and looked up to see the gas station directly in front of them.

Ω

They found Ares standing at one of the gas pumps, leaning against his motorcycle.

Annabeth was surprised at how well Percy was holding back his thoughts. She had been positive that he would have been foaming at the mouth by now. Percy had never been good at holding back his anger (especially around any of the gods) but right now he was doing really well. Sure, his vision was tinted red, and his teeth were grit together so hard that Annabeth was sure his teeth were hurting, but at least he didn't have his sword out waving it around like a maniac.

That was another thing that she had figured out. If she really looked, she could see what he was seeing. So if she focused on his mind, she could see herself sitting in front of him talking or walking in front of him. She had always wondered what it would be like to see things from his perspective, but it didn't really look any different than seeing the back of her own head.

**I need to hold her hand.**

Before Annabeth could stop, she reached back and took Percy's hand.

Percy's thoughts cleared a little, and the violence receded like the tide going out to the ocean.

Ares was leaning against his motorcycle. He was dressed in all black leather, and he had on a pair of red sunglasses. He wasn't wearing that patronizing smile that he normally had on his face when she saw him. Instead of looking like he owned the place, he looked a little… nervous. He was tapping his foot impatiently, and he crossed his arms more times than once.

"It's about time you demigods showed up." Ares said when they were close enough to hear him. "I sent that owl almost two hours ago."

**I'm going to-**

Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand to keep him from talking. "You sent the owl? Not my mother?"

"Athena helped me contact you. She believes that I have some insight you could use. I believe she gave something to the mighty savior of Olympus that he didn't quite understand." Ares said.

**The freaking towel.**

Percy slipped his hand out of Annabeth's and took his backpack off of his shoulder. He looked through it for a second before he pulled out the white towel and tossed it to Ares.

Ares pushed his sunglasses up onto his head and studied the towel, running his fingers over the pink embroidery.

"Ms. Chase, I thought for sure you would have cracked this code by now." Ares sneered. "How disappointing."

Percy growled suddenly, "Cut the crap, Ares. If you haven't noticed, we've been a little busy with trying to stay alive. Tell us what you want us to know so we can get out of here."

"Easy, Jackson. It's best not to tempt me today." Ares said.

**Tempt ****_him?_**

****"Yeah?" Percy said as he took a step closer. "Me either."

Annabeth grabbed the back of Percy's shirt and pulled him back. All she needed right now was for Percy to get into another fight with Ares and end up seriously hurt if he lost or get his ego blown out of proportion if he won.

**Annabeth! Stop protecting me!**

"Lord Ares," she said as she stepped slightly in front of Percy. "I know that it is a name of a place somewhere in the south, but that's it. Athena also gave us two bus tickets to Nashville, but we didn't make it that far."

"I know. I was going to meet you there, but I underestimated the time before you two would be attacked. Nicely dealt with. I must admit that I was disappointed that some of the _empousai _were left alive, but whatever." Ares said.

**He was watching us?!**

"Annabeth was about to die." Percy scoffed angrily. "I couldn't take half a second to stop and kill all the monsters."

They didn't have time to argue like this. They only had two weeks to find and save Aphrodite, and they weren't going to get anywhere if they stood here and argued with Ares about how they should have killed more monsters.

"Look," she said again. "We don't have time to stand here and argue. Lord, do you know anything about this place? Anything that could help us?"

Ares straightened and tossed the towel back to her. His face was frozen like stone and he pushed his sunglasses back down to cover his eyes. Annabeth was struck again by that feeling that Ares was out of his element.

Then she realized what the feeling was. Ares was upset. He was literally sad.

He missed Aphrodite.

**Annabeth just realized something important.**

She had never considered that the gods had normal relationships like mortals and demigods do. She had never thought anything about how the other gods felt about Aphrodite missing. Obviously, someone had to miss her. Someone had to want her to come back. Never in her right mind would she have thought that the god of war would be upset about his girlfriend missing.

"Lord Ares, we're going to find her, but we need you to help us." Annabeth said gently. How was she supposed to word that without offending him? Maybe he wouldn't blow them to dust for her trying to make him feel better.

Annabeth thought that Ares was glaring at her, but she couldn't really tell through his sunglasses. "Do you still have the keys I sent, kid?"

She nodded and pulled them out.

"_The Lush Desert _is her favorite spa. Last time I spoke to her, she was on her way there. I tried to contact her a week ago, but I couldn't get through. Go to Houston and find the spa. She could be there. She once spent three weeks in a mud bath down there." Ares said as he got back on his motorcycle.

"How are we supposed to get to Houston?" Percy asked.

Ares cranked up his motorcycle, "That's what the keys are for, kids. And be sure to be careful with that compass. You shouldn't always trust everything you get from the gods."

**He would know.**

"You would know wouldn't you?" Percy said.

The god of war grinned menacingly, "I'm the master on it, kid. Find Aphrodite. And don't be late."

He snapped his fingers, and the world spun in a circle.

Ω

When Annabeth could stand up straight again, the gas station was gone. All of the people that had been standing around were gone. Ares and his motorcycle were gone.

**That's like the second freaking time he's done that to me!**

Annabeth wondered when the first was.

They were standing on a deserted street. Everything looked the same, so she guessed that they were in about the same place. She had been hoping that Ares would just zap them to Houston, (If he wanted them to find Aphrodite so bad, then why didn't he?) but she figured that it would mess up the whole purpose of the quest if he did that.

Percy was beside her, and they were standing in front of a car.

**Oh man, that is my one true love.**

Annabeth looked over to him in surprise to find him already drooling over the car. He ran over to it and laid his head down on the hood, closing his eyes.

**Gods, this is awesome. **

"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth said. "Stop drooling over the car!"

"So I should drool over you instead?"

Annabeth felt her face heat up.

**I can't believe I just said that. Too late to take it back! Just roll with it!**

She decided to have some fun with this, so she grinned and tossed him the keys. "If you can keep from drooling all over everything I guess you can drive."

Ω

**This is amazing.**

Annabeth had been dozing on and off for the past few hours as Percy drove along the interstate. It had been really quiet; the only thing she could hear was the soft purr of the bump-shift Chevy Camaro they were driving and Percy singing quietly along to the radio if he knew the words.

She had been listening to his thoughts while she was snoozing, and he had been being relatively quiet. Most of his thoughts were either about seeing how fast he could pass another car or wondering if she was really asleep.

**Her eyes are open.**

Annabeth sat up and stretched. "You're supposed to be driving, not staring at me."

**Come up with something funny to say. Hurry!**

"Well, you were supposed to be sleeping." Percy said as he glanced up at the rear view mirror.

**That sounded a lot better in my head.**

"I was." Annabeth said. She didn't realize that it was almost dark already. "Where are we?"

"We just crossed over into Alabama. I think that Ares has this car wired with magic because since you fell asleep we haven't gone under 180 miles per hour." He said.

She nodded absently. If they were going that fast and they didn't get distracted by anything big, then they should be in Houston by tomorrow morning.

She wasn't feeling any better. Even after her nap, she was still exhausted, and her side was still hurting. She was tired of riding in the car, and she just wanted to stretch for a few minutes.

"I need to pee." Annabeth said.

**Thank gods. Me too!**

"Okay, I'm pretty sure that there is a rest stop at the next exit. Can you wait another ten minutes?" Percy said with a look over at her.

She nodded. "Yes."

**She doesn't look like she feels any better.**

"Do you feel better?" Percy asked.

Annabeth frowned. How could he tell that she didn't feel good? Did he just know her that well? She didn't remember saying anything to Percy about feeling bad.

"No. I don't know why I'm so tired." She said.

"You need to let me look at your stomach."

"You just want me to take my shirt off."

**Annabeth! Is she flirting with me? Flirt back!**

Percy grinned mischievously and said, "That might be true, but you could still be seriously hurt, and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it considering I don't know."

"I told you that I'm fine." Annabeth said. Why was he so concerned about this? Was there something else that had happened that would make him think she wasn't okay?

**I'll just look when she falls asleep again. **

"Fine." Percy said as he changed the radio station.

Ω

Annabeth washed her face in the sink of the bathroom.

They had stopped at an exit and found a small diner to eat at. Annabeth and Percy hadn't even realized that it had been almost a day since they had anything to eat, and they were both starving. Currently, Percy was over at the table waiting on their food.

Since he had started thinking that something was up with her, his thoughts had become almost entirely focused on her. It was weird. He kept thinking about random things, like their first quest or even the time that Annabeth had kissed him in Mount St. Helens.

So she had to get away for a few minutes. It was hard to sit with him and try to keep up a solid conversation while she was hearing all of his thoughts about her.

She didn't know what to do. She just couldn't keep sitting there with him and not wonder why she was being so stupid. She was supposed to be a daughter of Athena for gods sake! How could she read Percy's mind and hear all of the things he thought about her and then not even act on any of them? She _knew _that Percy liked her; she had heard him think that he _loved _her.

Why was she scared? Why couldn't she just tell him her feelings? It wasn't like he was going to reject her.

So why was she being stupid?

**Where is she? Should I go check on her? **

"Screw it." Annabeth said as she looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't need Percy to come in here and get her. She was a big girl.

Annabeth fixed her ponytail (she should have brought her hairbrush) and walked out of the restroom. She knew Percy was sitting at a table up toward the front of the restaurant, but before she could even see him, she felt a pair of hands on her waist.

"Hey!" A wobbly voice called out. "I found me a pretty blonde!"

Annabeth whipped her head around, finding a group of guys standing behind her.

The guy that had his hands on her waist was just a couple of years older than her. He looked like he had been drinking, and Annabeth could smell the alcohol on his breath when he leaned closer to her.

She glared at him and said, "Let go of me."

"Oh, that's cute. What's your name, sweetheart?" He said as he pulled Annabeth even closer to his body.

She struggled against him and tried to step on his toes, but his grip was too tight, and his fingers were pressing into her new scars. She gritted her teeth and turned her head away when he leaned toward her face.

"I've always thought that daughters of Athena were sexy." He whispered roughly. "That is, until they opened their mouth."

Annabeth was ready to beat this guy senseless, but her back arched when she felt a point against her back. She looked back to see a Celestial bronze blade at the small of her back.

These guys were demigods.

**What's taking Annabeth so long?**

She looked around at all of them. There were five of them, including the guy that had his hands on her right now. All of their faces were equally cruel and menacing, and they all had weapons pulled out.

She realized that it was already late afternoon. All of the tables in the back corner were empty. There was no one else back here to see them.

Annabeth needed Percy. Even if she could get her knife from the waistband of her jeans, she wouldn't be able to use it with this guy holding a knife to her back. Not to mention the fact that she wouldn't be able to fight all five of them alone.

"Per-" Annabeth started to yell his name, but another one of the demigods lunged forward and wrapped a gag around her mouth, stifling her yells. Then he tied her hands together with a zip tie.

Okay. Now she was pissed. She had been through so much already, and there was no freaking way that she was going to let a stupid gang of drunken demigods take her down.

"Not so fast, sweetie. Your boyfriend doesn't need to get involved with this. We're about to have him taken care of anyway. But, I know you Athena types, always after knowledge." The guy said in her ear. She recoiled back, but the knife dug a little farther into her skin. "So, we're going to have our way with you, and then take care of you for one of our… friends. It's nothing personal. We actually appreciate all of the work that you and Percy Jackson did for Olympus. It saved us a hell of a lot of trouble. Now, hardly any monsters are attacking us. But, you know, a job is a job, and we intend to see our end of the deal."

Annabeth had plenty of questions, but there was no way she could ask them. She needed Percy to get his butt back here before any of these guys… had their way with her.

**But the second I get up to go back there, she'll come walking up here.**

She had an idea. If Annabeth could hear Percy's thoughts, then there had to be some kind of bridge between their minds, right? Maybe she could get Percy to hear her…

_PERCY!_

**Annabeth?**

She wanted to laugh. It worked!

**What the heck was that? Was that her voice?**

Before Annabeth could call again and tell him to stop being such a seaweed brain, the guy shook her angrily, jarring her back to the current situation.

"Let's go, guys. The rest of you take care of that idiot Jackson, and Trent and I will head out to the van with our new toy." The guy lifted her up off of the ground and slung her over his shoulder.

That was it. She couldn't wait on Percy to come save the day.

Annabeth jerked out of the guy's grasp and rolled off of his shoulder to the floor. Before any of them could move, she kicked two of the guy's feet out from under them and jumped back up to her feet.

The other three came toward her and made to grab her, but she dodged them and jumped out of the way.

A second later, she felt a hand on her ankle, and she was jerked to the ground.

The guy with bad breath rolled over and pinned her to the ground. "Fine, if you're going to be like that we'll just punish you right here."

Annabeth whimpered when she felt his hand creep up her thigh and his lips on her neck.

She was so panicked and freaked out; she couldn't manage to think straight. She couldn't get through to Percy, but if she didn't find a way to in just a few seconds-

Her jeans were already unbuttoned when she finally managed to come up with something. There was no way this was going to happen to her.

She jerked her hands up and hit him in the throat. He leaned up in shock, and she kicked him off of her. She rolled away from him and sat up. She needed Percy. Maybe she was too freaked out and pumped up with adrenaline to try and communicate with words, but she could let him know where she was.

She sent all of her feelings and all of her thoughts and all of these images across that small bridge to Percy. Maybe one of the gods would feel sorry for her and help her.

One of the demigods hauled her up to her feet, and she kneed him in the crotch.

She was about to run when she felt a blade cut through her side. She doubled over, and a second later, she heard someone yell and felt water splash everywhere.

**ANNABETH!**

"ANNABETH!" Percy's voice echoed through her mind and through the diner.

And he sounded mad.

Percy was standing in the middle of the floor, blocking the only way to the door. He had Riptide drawn already, and water was spilling from the pipes in the ceiling. He looked horrified, and he was trembling.

Annabeth stumbled toward him, but before she made it, the guy she had kicked off of her grabbed her again.

"Well, Percy Jackson." He said as he held a knife to Annabeth's throat. "If you'll just let us by, we will be on our way and you can head on home."

Percy's voice was strained and laced with anger. "Let go of her."

The guy behind Annabeth laughed. "Come off of it, Jackson. Why not let us take her? Think of all the things that she has done to you. She's a daughter of Athena; don't think that she doesn't know how you feel about her. And yet, here she is, playing with your emotions, using you to get this quest finished. Is that something that someone who loved you would do?"

Annabeth's stomach fell. This guy was saying all the right words. He was using Percy's doubt against him, and Annabeth was as good as dead if he kept talking.

Percy met her gaze, and his eyes hardened.

"Let go of her right now and I won't have to kill you." Percy said.

Even though Annabeth was still in a dangerous position, she relaxed. She knew that Percy was extremely loyal, but this guy had made it sound so real.

One of the other five guys spoke up from behind Annabeth, "You know, Cole, I don't think that this is worth it. Why don't we just let them both go? Regina isn't-"

Cole, apparently, dug the knife even closer to Annabeth's throat and turned to look at the protesting guy. "Shut your mouth! We're doing this."

Percy met Annabeth's gaze again, and she nodded.

Several things happened at once.

Annabeth jerked out of Cole's grasp while he was distracted by that other guy. She kicked him over, and Percy flew at him with Riptide.

Two of the other guys came at Annabeth, and she had to fight both of them without her weapon. Her hands were still tied together, and she still had a gag in her mouth. She had to focus on keeping the two guys from being able to touch her, and the foot of water on the floor of the diner wasn't helping her.

**We need to go. Right now.**

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. "Get ready!"

She tried to yell that she was, but she had to kick one of the guys hands away from her ankles, and the gag in her mouth didn't help.

Annabeth watched in awe as Percy yelled and all of the water hit the three guys Percy had been fighting.

The next second, Percy had scooped her up and was sprinting out of the diner. He had her pressed to his chest, and she leaned up to look over his shoulder.

**Please Poseidon, Zeus, Athena, Apollo, anybody. Please let us get out of here. Please. Please. Please. Please.**

She looked back to the front and saw that they were only a couple of yards away from the car.

But then she heard, "Stop them!"

"Shit," Percy hissed.

**Come on! Run faster!**

Somehow, Percy managed to run even faster. He rounded the car, and jerked the driver's door opened. Annabeth could tell he was trying to be careful, but he tossed her over to the passenger seat and slammed the car door.

It was like watching a bad horror movie. Percy locked the doors, and Annabeth could literally see that they had two seconds before Cole got to the car.

The gods must have been with them because Percy slammed the gas pedal to the floor board just as Cole grabbed the spoiler on the back of the car.

Ω

"Stop the car." Annabeth choked on her breath.

They had been driving on the interstate for almost half an hour. Neither of them had said one word, and Percy's thoughts were still too angry to even form coherent words for her to hear.

She had managed to get the gag out of her mouth, but her hands were still tied together. In reality, she was freaking out. She was starting to hyperventilate, and she needed out of this car right now before-

Percy pulled over in a deserted gas station parking lot. Before the car was even stopped, Annabeth jumped out and doubled over.

The cut on her side wasn't that bad. It was bleeding a little, but it had mostly closed up on its own.

She was having a panic attack though. There was no way that stuff had happened to her. If she hadn't have been smart about it, what _could _have happened?

Annabeth wanted to throw up when she thought that he had actually touched her. His lips had been on her skin. He had unbuttoned _her jeans._

**Say something to her.**

Percy's voice was rough. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head and choked on her breath. Tears were streaming down her face, and all she wanted to do was curl up on the ground and never ever get back up again.

How could she have let that happen? Sure, maybe nothing did happen, but Annabeth was determined not to laugh the next time she watched a victim on _Law & Order: Special Victims Unit _fall to pieces. This sucked.

**Make her feel better. Tell her it's okay.**

Annabeth realized the sobbing sounds that she was hearing echo in Percy's mind was coming from her. No wonder he was standing so far away from her. She probably looked-

"Tell me what happened before I got there." Percy said. His voice didn't sound any closer, and Annabeth strangely didn't blame him.

No. There was no way she was going to tell him what had happened. She couldn't even face it herself. Why in Hades name would she tell him? If she did then he was going to demand to go back and hunt them down, and they were already pushing it with time.

** That's not going to make her feel better. Something obviously went down. Why won't she tell me?**

Annabeth stiffened when she felt his arms slide around her waist from behind her. She hadn't even heard him walk over to her, and now he was hugging her and pressing close to her and burying his face in her hair.

**She's shivering.**

"Tell me." He whispered in her ear. Percy's arms were tight around her, but instead of feeling like she had earlier, it made her feel better.

Great. Now she was comparing an almost rapist to the guy she loved.

Normally, Annabeth kept her emotions on a tight leash. Unless it was something really bad, she never ever let herself lose it. And if she did fall apart, she never let anyone see her. But now she was standing in front of Percy, crying and sobbing her eyes and heart out.

She didn't care. She didn't care at all. Not now.

Annabeth turned around and buried her face in Percy's chest. Her wrists were still bound together with a zip tie, and there was a little bit of blood dripping down her forearms from the places where her skin had broken.

**She's bleeding again. Are her hands tied together?**

Percy started to loosen his arms around her, but Annabeth clutched at him desperately. If he let go of her right now, she wouldn't ever be able to pull herself back together. She just needed a few minutes to hold on to him and pretend that she was okay.

"Don't let go of me. Don't let go. Please." She said.

**Gods, Annabeth. I won't. I won't let go.**

He pulled her closer and cradled her against his body.

"Tell me what's wrong." He said again. His voice was soft, and he nudged her ear with his nose.

The words spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"I was coming out of the bathroom back to the table, and Cole grabbed me. He said that he was working for some Regina, and that they had to take care of us. He said that he was going to keep me and punish me. He-" Annabeth choked on her words and pressed even closer to Percy. "He kissed me and unbuttoned my jeans."

**No. **

Percy's arms were limp around her, and his thoughts were racing.

**I should have skinned him alive. No one touches her. ****_No. One._**

****"Where did he kiss you?" Percy's voice was laced over with anger, but his grip was soft when he pulled Annabeth's face up so he could see her eyes.

Her hands were still tied together, and tears were still dripping down her cheeks, but she held her hands up to her neck just under ear. She whispered, "Right here."

**_Her neck? _****Hades no. He's dead the next time I see him. Dead. No one ever touches her like that. Never. **

Suddenly, Percy's thoughts shifted from extremely violent to extremely upset.

**I should have been there. I should have been there to stop him. Why wasn't I? Gods, I'm so stupid. I should have been there. All of this is my fault. All of it is-**

Annabeth looked up to him and tried to blink most of her tears away. "This isn't your fault. You saved me. You heard me, and then you saved me."

"I wasn't fast enough. If I had gotten there sooner, then none of this would have-" Percy started.

**Wait. How did she know I was thinking that? And what did she mean when she said that I heard her? She didn't yell with her voice. And why does she keep answering everything that I've been thinking? **

Annabeth bit her lip, but somehow she couldn't find the will to care about it anymore. She had always been pretty good at hiding things from people, but Percy knew her so well and was so close to her that she was really pushing it. She was telling so many lies that she couldn't remember what she had already told him and what she hadn't. And hadn't she promised that she would tell him everything? Maybe it was for the best.

**Oh my gods. This whole time… The reason we're on a quest… To find Aphrodite… She can hear me? Annabeth?**

"Yes?" She whispered in conformation.

Percy's eyes widened, and his mind practically fell apart.

**This whole time? She's been able to hear me this whole time? **

She nodded, "Yes."

Percy tore his arms away from her and stepped back. "Stop listening to me!"

"I can't." Annabeth said. "I tried to block you out, and at first it worked, but now you've been thinking about me so much I always hear you."

**OH MY GODS!**

Percy was standing a couple of feet away from her. He kept shoving his hands through his hair like he did when he was frustrated.

**This whole time she's been able to read my mind and she hasn't even told me? **

"I'm sorry." Annabeth said. She let her tied hands fall down to her stomach. "I couldn't figure out how to tell you."

**She's heard everything that I've been thinking. All of the things I thought about her. Maybe Cole was right. She's been playing me. This whole time she's been-**

Annabeth stomped over to him and put her hands on his face. "Percy Jackson, don't you dare finish that thought. I would never do that to you."

"Then why haven't you said anything about it? This entire time you've been hearing the things I think about you, and you haven't even said anything." Percy said as he turned away from her.

"This hasn't exactly been easy for me either. Do you think I could bear to listen to you? Do you think that I wanted this? This wasn't my idea! I don't like being able to hear what you think all of the time!" Annabeth shouted.

Percy twisted back around so he could face her. "Yeah? Is it because I'm so stupid? Am I too dumb for you?"

Annabeth was ready to punch him. He honestly thought that?

"No!" Annabeth said. New tears dripped down her face. "Do you think that I could really listen to you think all of those awesome and sweet things about me? Do you know how much it hurt to hear that you thought that when I wasn't even worth your time? I'm not even- There's no way that someone like you should even be friends with someone like me. I'm mean to you, and I snap at you and make fun of you and I'm-"

**Funny, cute, fun, dangerous, scary, sweet, nice, awesome, beautiful, my best friend, my sidekick, the love of my-**

"Stop." Annabeth said as she pressed her hands to her head to cover her eyes. "There's no reason you should think that. I'm not- You could have anybody you wanted. You could have someone way better than me."

**There's no one better than you. **

"See?" She said, frustrated. "I don't deserve you."

**It's the other way around. I don't deserve ****_you._**

****Percy was still standing a couple of feet away from her. He was staring at her, and his hands were clenched into fists.

Without warning, he marched over to her and crashed his lips to hers.

**Oh gods. ****_Annabeth._**

Annabeth felt the exact same way. Even though they were both so exhausted and angry right now, this felt right. Kissing Percy felt… good.

She had only kissed him once before, and that had only been a short peck in a life or death situation so it was nothing close to romantic, but it had been them. This kiss was completely different. Percy was kissing her desperately, and she could clearly pick out all of the want and need and passion from the last few years.

She felt like she was drowning, but for some reason, she liked the water.

After a few more minutes (or it could have been hours, Annabeth couldn't tell), her lips stopped moving.

**I'm going to be in so much trouble. Wait, she can hear you, you idiot.**

They shouldn't be doing this. They shouldn't be kissing when they had a quest to finish. Annabeth didn't want to live the rest of her life (however short it might be) with Percy's thoughts clouding her mind. She couldn't even admit how she felt to him, so why should she get to kiss him?

But oh _gods, _she wanted to. She just wanted to stay right here in his arms and kiss him forever. She didn't care how cliché it was or how much she sounded like an Aphrodite girl; she knew she could be happy with him.

Annabeth pushed back from his lips and leaned her forehead against his. They were both out of breath, and Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut.

**I shouldn't have done that.**

She flinched. So did that mean he regretted it? He didn't… like it?

**Oh gods, she's about to over analyze this.**

"I don't mean it like that, Annabeth." Percy said.

She pushed away from him and wiped more tears off of her face. "I know what you mean."

"No, you don't. Annabeth, I _know _that you've heard me think about you. I love-"

Annabeth slammed the wall up between their minds with as much force as she could, and she covered his mouth with her hands so she didn't hear him say it.

Percy looked at her like she was crazy, and he slowly pealed her hand off of his face.

"Please don't say it." Annabeth whispered. "Not right here. Not right now."

His face hardened and his eyebrows scrunched together. "You know that it's true."

"I don't. I don't want it to be true."

The wall in Annabeth's mind shattered as Percy slowly unraveled.

**She doesn't want it to be true? She doesn't love me? She doesn't like me? After all of these years being best friends and all of the time we had together- She doesn't-? No. There's no way. She does. She just can't say it. She has to. She has to.**

Annabeth could see that Percy was about to have a panic attack. His hands were trembling, and his thoughts were getting faster and faster and he kept clenching and unclenching his jaw. His breathing was picking up pace, and his chest was heaving.

"Percy, calm down." Annabeth said. "It's fine. Just calm down. Please. You're scaring me."

**_Me_**** calm down?! Why don't ****_you_**** calm down?! I'm not the one who is saying crazy things! How could she even think about saying that to me?**

"I'm fine." He said shakily.

"No you're not." Annabeth said. Her voice was just as weak. "I didn't mean it like that. It sounded bad when I said it."

**She meant it. **

"Percy Jackson!" Annabeth snapped. She was breaking from all of the stress, and she did _not _have the time or patience to deal with all of Percy's feelings right now "Stop taking my sentences out of context! Now do you really think it is a good idea for us to get together when I can read your mind?"

**What's the difference? You've been reading my mind this whole time anyway.**

"Valid point, but I don't like hearing you think some things in your mind when you wouldn't just tell me out loud like a normal person." Annabeth said.

**Well it's not like I'm going to tell you every time I think that you're eyes are pretty or when your jeans are unbuttoned.**

Percy reached forward without hesitation and buttoned her jeans back as he said, "Well I don't know what to do. You're mad at me if I try to tell you out loud and you're mad at me if I don't tell you something that I'm thinking. Make up your mind. Either I tell you what I'm thinking right here, right now, or you ignore me and I pick some other time to tell you."

Annabeth knew that she this whole thing was crazy. Hadn't she wanted to be with Percy since that first summer that they met? So why wasn't she jumping on his offer? Why wasn't she kissing him again?

But she still had doubts. She knew that Percy's feeling were real and she knew that her feelings were real too, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this was wrong. It would be wrong to get together while she could read his mind. That wouldn't be fair to her or Percy.

No. They had to wait until they found Aphrodite and she fixed this whole mess.

"When we get home," Annabeth started. "I'll listen. But not now."

**Is she being difficult on purpose?**

Percy rolled his eyes, but set his hands on her shoulder so she had to look at him. "Fine. But I want you to know that you're_ mine_, and you're _not_ getting away from me easily. I am _not _losing you. Do you understand me?"

Annabeth nodded, wondering where this very possessive Percy had come from. It was strange, but she kind of… liked it.

**We need to go.**

Percy dropped his hands from her shoulder and started walking back toward the car.

"Come on, Annabeth. We need to get going, and if you could somehow mind your own business, that would be great."

* * *

**A/N: So? Let me know what you guys thought about this and what you would like to see happen in the next few chapters! Thanks for reading!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**


	8. Chapter 8- Spas and Revealing

**A/N: Hey! What's up?**

**Alright, so I thought this chapter was going to be shorter than it was, but you know... I'm hoping that I can get the chapters back down to average 3,000 words, but I probably won't so ;)**

**I hope you like this chapter! I put a reference from a song into this, and if you tell me first then I will forever respect you!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize.**

* * *

**I know that you're awake.**

Annabeth rolled over to face Percy. She had been pretending to be asleep against the window for the past few hours, but it obviously hadn't been fooling Percy.

"If you want me to hear you for sure you have to talk out loud." She said with a look at him.

Percy rolled his eyes, "I know that you've been listening."

After they had gotten back in the car, they had been driving along the interstate for a long time. They had gone through a fast food drive through, and grabbed something to eat so they didn't have to stop again. Annabeth had managed to get her hands untied, and the scrapes on her arms and the bruises across her jaw from the gag had healed after she ate some ambrosia.

Even after Percy had figured out that she could read his mind, his thoughts hadn't slowed down. Now, he was thinking more about the quest in general and why she hadn't told him about it before.

"Do you want me to drive for a little while?" Annabeth asked as she sat up.

**Uh no.**

"Well fine then." Annabeth said.

"So, you've been able to hear everything that I've been thinking?" Percy asked.

Annabeth looked over to him. Percy was holding on to the steering wheel with one hand, and he was leaned against the door like he was about to fall asleep. His eyes were wide open though, and every few seconds his gaze glanced up to look in the rear view mirror or to look at her. To anyone else he would have looked pretty relaxed, but Annabeth could see the way his eyes flickered nervously or his left foot tapping slightly against the floor board of the car.

"Yes." Annabeth said.

**Crap. Wait, she can hear you now.**

"So…" Percy passed a pick-up truck that had been doing thirty five in the fast lane. "What did you hear?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. What was he expecting her to say? Did he really want to hash out all of the embarrassing details right now? And did he think that she had honestly been sitting her analyzing every single thought that crossed his mind?

So she shrugged. "A lot of stuff."

**Annabeth! Tell me!**

"Stop whining." Annabeth teased carefully. Things had been pretty tense between them earlier, and she really wasn't sure if she should tease him or not. "I don't sit here and analyze every single thing that you think of."

**Whatever. Since when do you take knowledge for granted?**

She huffed at that. "I'll have you know that your thoughts aren't exactly the wisest thing I have access to."

"Just tell me what you heard." Percy said.

Annabeth hesitated for a moment. Was there really any point in lying about what she heard? He knew that he had thought about her, and now that Percy had almost told her how he felt out loud (and basically promised they were together) what was the point? She might as well torture him while she could, right?

**You're about to give in!**

"And you're not going to like what I say, but," Annabeth grinned cheekily. "I guess I'll tell you anyway."

Percy raised his eyebrows.

"The first day I realized I could read your mind your thoughts were really scrambled. I could hear everything that you were thinking then, but now, I can filter it and I really only hear something that relates back to me." Annabeth said.

**Not answering my question.**

"So, what _exactly _did you hear?" Percy asked again.

"What? You afraid I heard some of your deep dark secrets?" Annabeth said lightly.

He laughed nervously. "I am actually."

"Well, once or twice I heard you comparing me to Drew and wondering what I would look like in a bikini like hers. You look at my lips a lot, but you look at my eyes even more. You think that it's sexy when I stomp my feet." Annabeth leaned over closer to him and set her hand on the small of his back. "And you _really_ like it when I do this."

**Oh ****_gods._**

"I'm trying to drive." Percy's voice was rough. His face was blood red.

Annabeth shrugged and moved over, but left her hand on his back.

"It's not like that for everybody." He said.

"What?" She asked.

"I mean, my back is sensitive and stuff, but when someone else touches me right there it doesn't do much but scare me." Percy said.

If it wasn't like that for everybody then why was it like that for her? Why did he relax so much when _she_ touched his weak spot?

**She seriously doesn't know. Hmm. I could have some fun with this.**

"Percy!" Annabeth said. "Tell me!"

**I can ****_show _****you.**

Without warning, Annabeth was pulled directly into Percy's mind.

She was standing back at camp, beside the volleyball and the tetherball court. She could see herself standing there, yelling. The other Annabeth hit the tetherball and stormed off. Then, Annabeth was in the forest, talking to Nico di Angelo and some satyr. After standing there for another second, she was changed into a darker place beside some river. Nico said something else to her, and then she jumped into the river. The next minute, she was floating through a burning river, wondering which way was up and which way was down and trying to remember what her name was. Then she heard a voice calling her a nickname and she looked up to see her other self, standing on the dock and smiling down at her. She took the other Annabeth's hand and burst out of the river.

Annabeth shook her head as she tried to process what she had just seen. Had that been…? Was that what Percy had gone through when he went to get his curse? She had seen everything from his point of view. But why had Annabeth been the one to be in-?

**She still doesn't get it.**

She frowned. "That was what you went through to get the curse, right?"

**She's about to get there. She just needs a push.**

"Yeah." Percy said quietly. "Do you know why you were there?"

Annabeth shook her head. Right before Percy had left with Nico to go get the curse they had a fight. A really bad fight. Why would she have been in his mind if he was mad at her?

"Nico told me that I had to pick one spot that would anchor my soul to my body. That one spot would be the only vulnerable place on my body. So technically, there was one thing that anchored me to the mortal world." Percy looked at Annabeth and said, "You following me?"

She nodded absently, intent on listening to him explain.

"When I had been thinking about the place, I just assumed it would be easily dealt with. You know, here's your weak spot, and cool, you're done. So I didn't realize that my weak spot would be something in my life instead of just a spot on my body. It had to be something that I really cared about and something that was one of the most important things to me in the world." Percy paused and swallowed. "I almost didn't make it. I was so close to being dead, but you saved me."

Annabeth blinked in surprise. She hadn't even been there. How could she have even-?

"_I'm _your weak spot?" Annabeth asked.

**Man, that took you a while.**

She still couldn't quite figure out what he was saying. "Me? I mean, I'm not even- How could you-? I don't…"

**You're a daughter of Athena, Annabeth. Is it really such a surprise?**

Annabeth huffed. Of course, she was extremely shocked (and happy) that _she _was this important to him, but she was actually a little pissed off. If he had known that he felt like this for this long, then why didn't he say something a few months ago? How could he have kept this to himself?

And she was feeling extremely insignificant right now. Here was the guy she had liked for a couple of years, completely giving over his life for her. That's what this felt like. He had taken a risk like this and put everything on the line, knowing that she would be the one to get him through it. And she hadn't even had the guts to tell him, "Oh, hey, I kind of like you."

**What did I say? Why is she upset?**

"We're back to me not deserving you." Annabeth said as she looked out of the window.

**Annabeth, don't do this.**

"I swear to the gods, how many times do I have to tell you that it's the other way around?" Percy said. "If anything, I don't deserve you."

"Percy-" Annabeth started.

**I'm not doing this right now. If you don't believe me, then I guess you don't believe me.**

"Look, Annabeth. We'll talk about it later." He said, cutting her voice off. "Do we need to stop for anything?"

Annabeth shook her head tiredly and removed her hand from Percy's back. If he didn't want to talk, then fine. They didn't have to talk.

"Wake me up when you need me to drive." Annabeth said as she turned over toward the window and closed her eyes.

Ω

Annabeth's dream started out pretty cool.

She was riding shotgun with her hair undone in the front seat of the car. She wasn't really saying anything, and Percy was being quiet too.

It was nice. There wasn't hardly any traffic on the interstate and holding Percy's hand as he drove was way better than leaning against the window and hiding her tears.

She was just about to ask Percy if he particularly liked country music or if she could change the radio when a voice filtered through the expensive stereo system.

"_My dear Annabeth," _it rasped. "_I thought my warnings would be sufficient the first time. You do care about him, do you not?"_

Annabeth looked over to Percy in alarm, but he was still smiling and singing the words to the song that had been on the radio a few seconds ago. This was the same voice that had been in one of her first dreams about the quest before they had left camp!

"Of course I care about him." Annabeth said stiffly. "That's why I'm doing this."

"_You are mistaken, child. You care no more for him than for his power to help you finish your quest." _The voice said, sending chills down her spine.

"That's not true." Annabeth said shakily.

"_Then why can't you tell him how you feel? A simple confession would mean the difference between what you have now and what he wants. So the question is, why won't you do it?" _

The voice was swimming around her whole body, and she couldn't seem to think straight anymore. "I… I can't."

"_Annabeth," _it hissed. "_Alter your course. Return home and live with Percy Jackson. Do not continue on this quest."_

"And why should I do what you're telling me?" Annabeth asked. She was getting especially mad, and she was about ready to destroy these ridiculously expensive speakers.

"_Because if you don't… Percy Jackson will be destroyed."_

Suddenly, she wasn't sitting in the car anymore.

She was standing in the woods on a pair of train tracks. Percy was off to the side, fighting a group of…

Annabeth was frozen solid to the ground when she recognized Cole and his group of demigods.

"Run, Annabeth!" Percy yelled to her. "I've got this! I'll catch up with you!"

She shook her head and started to reach for her knife. Percy didn't have this. He was surrounded by them and there were too many and-

Before she could even move over to help him, a knife was thrown, and Percy screamed and crumbled to the ground. He disappeared under all of the other demigods, but Annabeth could still hear him screaming.

Ω

**Gods, Annabeth! Wake up!**

"Wake up, Annabeth! _Wake up_!"

Slowly, Annabeth realized that she had been screaming, and when she finally managed to open her eyes and close her mouth, she could see Percy leaned over her, shaking her shoulders desperately.

**What the heck was that?!**

Annabeth pushed herself up and unbuckled her seatbelt. She looked out of the window and saw that they were sitting in a deserted parking lot.

"Annabeth," Percy said. "You started screaming my name just as I was going to wake you up. What did you dream?"

She felt her throat begin to close. She couldn't tell him about her dream because he would just try to tell her (and make sure) that it wouldn't happen, and that never worked and sometimes it just made the whole situation worse and-

She stopped herself right there. She could not afford to lose her shit like this right now. She had to be here for Percy, and she had to make sure that this quest got finished. Maybe the voice was just trying to trick her. Maybe nothing would ever actually happen. But Annabeth would be stupid to think like that. Dreams and visions weren't ever just a coincidence with demigods. This was real.

So it didn't really make any sense when she lied to Percy and said, "Spiders. There were spiders and I couldn't find you."

**Why are you lying?**

"I'm not lying." Annabeth said. "Where are we?"

**Good way to change the subject. I'll find out eventually.**

"We're in Houston. At the spa. Ares had directions programmed into the GPS." Percy said. "So, are you sure you're okay?"

Annabeth could hear the real question in his voice. _Are you sure you want to do this?_

She scowled. She had to do this. She had to find Aphrodite and get all of this fixed.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said as she got out of the car. "Let's go find a goddess."

Ω

The spa was slightly less empty than the parking lot.

Annabeth and Percy had parked the car and walked into the spa. Even though the sign said it was after hours, the lights were still on and the door was unlocked. A small black dog had been sitting at the front desk, and a couple of Justin Bieber songs were playing in the background.

She was thinking that this was a little (a lot) weird, but this seemed like the kind of place a love goddess would want to spend her time.

The place was a girl's dream resort. The walls and chairs were pink. The tile was checker black and white. From what Annabeth could see, there were at least fifty different types of mud baths and manicures that were offered. But all Annabeth could really notice was the poor architecture. The windows should have been bigger. There should be twin doors. And the walls needed-

**What's with the dog?**

Just as Percy thought that, the dog barked.

"Percy!" Annabeth hissed.

He held up his hands, but a smile was creeping onto his face. "Don't look at me. I didn't know I could speak to dogs telepathically."

"Big word." Annabeth said.

"I heard you say it. I thought I might try it out."

She rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything, she heard a set of heels clicking down the hallway.

**Crap! Hide!**

Percy grabbed her hand and started to move, but she didn't.

"Too late." She whispered.

Percy uncapped Riptide, and Annabeth whipped out her knife. She had met plenty of demons and monsters that wore high heels, and they were always just as vicious as the regular kind.

Instead of being some sort of demon, a young brunette walked into the room from a hallway on the right. She had her brown hair tied up in a bun, and she was wearing a pair of navy blue glasses. She had a big smile on her face as she looked from the clipboard up to them.

"Hi! My name is Hannah! I'm so glad you finally joined us at _The Lush Desert! _She's waiting for you in Room Three!" The girl said excitedly.

**She's kind of cute. Too bad she's not blonde.**

Annabeth looked over to Percy and raised her eyebrows. He turned a deep shade of red and his eyes widened when he realized she had heard him.

**Damn. You know what, I don't even care. You know that I have a thing for nerds.**

For nerds? Did that mean that Percy thought _she_ was a nerd? Was that one of the reasons he liked her so much?

**Not that you're- Oh gods. I'm just going to stop thinking. That would probably help me.**

Annabeth smothered the urge to roll her eyes at Percy, and she looked back up to Hannah. "Who is waiting for us?"

"Don't worry about that, Annabeth." Hannah said. "Just follow me."

That sent up huge red flags in Annabeth's book. In the whole mythical world she had been born into, random people just didn't know your name on coincidence. Enemies knew your name. Enemies kept tabs on where you were.

So of course she didn't want to follow the cute, (Percy hadn't been lying) nerdy brunette, but she _had _said that "she" was waiting for her. Maybe it was Aphrodite?

Annabeth doubted it. She just knew that things weren't going to be _that_ easy for them.

**What's the deal, Annabeth? We going? We fighting? We look kinda stupid just standing here.**

For a split second, she didn't know what to do.

If she believed the dreams, she could look straight at Hannah and tell her that they left something in the car. They could get back in it and drive straight home to Camp Half-Blood. They could be together and be happy, and Annabeth could just get over being able to read his mind.

Or, she could finish this quest for the gods. She could kick monster ass and show everybody (including Percy) that once again, she was a freaking champion of the world, assuming that she didn't get herself or Percy killed. And if that did happen, then she would have to live without him until the other one of them died.

And really? Was it a hard decision once she thought of it like that?

Annabeth smiled sweetly at Hannah and tightened her fingers around Percy's. "Awesome. Lead the way."

Ω

Annabeth reasoned that Hannah was a regular mortal because she talked a _lot. _

They walked through a couple of the hallways, and Annabeth hoped that Percy was paying attention because she lost count of the number of turns they took. She was still holding his hand, a fact that wasn't lost on Percy. When she glanced at him, he was smiling.

Hannah finally stopped walking and opened a door.

"Here we are." She said cheerfully. "Room Three. She's waiting for you inside!"

**Cheerful enough, are we? And who is "she?" Aphrodite?**

"Umm, okay. Thanks." Annabeth said as she walked in, pulling Percy behind her.

She was not expecting what she actually saw.

The room was open. There were hairdryers and manicure and pedicure stations pushed up against the walls, and there was a hot tub in the back corner of the room. A big table was sitting in the middle of the room, and Annabeth had a feeling that it wasn't normally there.

To her biggest disappointment, the woman sitting at the head of the table in a black rolling chair was not Aphrodite. She didn't radiate any power like a goddess would, but she did have some sort of… aura that Annabeth couldn't place.

"Annabeth," the woman stood up graciously and smiled. "I see that you have finally arrived."

**Hmm. She's kind of pretty too. Not my type though. **

Percy was right. The woman was tall and built with curves that made even Annabeth jealous. Her hair was some color between brown and blonde, and her eyes were the prettiest blue Annabeth had ever seen.

"Yes." Annabeth said. "Now can you please tell me who you are and why you know my name?"

The woman laughed; it sounded like bells ringing.

**Fake laugh?**

"Oh, darling Annabeth. Just as feisty and cute as I imagined." The woman looked over at Percy and winked. "You sure are lucky, huh, Percy Jackson?"

**I am, but how the heck do you know us?**

Percy looked at Annabeth for half a second before he looked over to the woman. "Sure, but can you tell us who you are and stuff? We're kind of looking for somebody."

He probably shouldn't have said that because as soon as he did, the woman's face took on one of the most hateful and spiteful looks Annabeth had ever seen. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and flopped down in the chair.

"Oh yes, that is what we are here to discuss, I'm afraid. Grab a seat." She said as she waved a hand in the air. Two chairs rolled up behind Percy and Annabeth, and something pushed them down into them.

**Uh, should we be worried, Annabeth?**

She looked over to Percy and shook her head slightly. Now wasn't the right time to freak out and start a fight. They at least needed to get some information first.

"So, I understand that you two are on a quest." She said.

"Yes." Annabeth said carefully.

The woman laughed, and the sour look melted off of her face. "Oh, no need to be so cross. I already know all of this. This meeting is just about conformation. You know what I want, Annabeth. You've seen it several times."

Annabeth frowned. How could she know what this lady wanted? She hadn't ever met her before; she didn't even know what her name was. Besides, what had she even seen where someone else wanted something-

Oh gods. The dreams. _She _was the voice. _She _was the one who wanted her to stop the quest and go back home. _She _was the one who kept threatening Percy.

Suddenly, Annabeth was fighting back a snarl. This ratchet was threatening Percy. She was saying he was going to die. She was saying that he was going to get hurt.

**Is she okay? She seems pissed.**

Annabeth stood up and glared at the lady. "I told you before and I haven't changed my mind. We're leaving."

Before Annabeth could get Percy to his feet, the lady waved her hand and Annabeth was pushed back down, hard.

"Oh, don't be so anxious, sweetheart. You know what's going to happen if you keep going with this quest. Why not just go home?" She said.

** What's going to happen? Why does it sound so bad? Why hasn't she told me?**

Annabeth's glare hardened. She did not need this stupid lady to tell Percy what would _not_ happen on this quest. It would just make his whole loyalty issue even worse.

"Annabeth," she purred. "Why not go home? Leave your quest for someone else to do. Go home. Live with Percy, and be safe. Why risk it all for finding a goddess who doesn't want to be found? Why risk his life for something you need when you can't even tell him that you love him?"

** My life? What's going to happen on this quest, Annabeth? Am I… Why didn't you…? I don't understand…**

She couldn't move. This lady was right. Why shouldn't they be headed home? Why not let the gods find Aphrodite? Why should she have to risk everything for them again?

Finally, her mind cleared. She remembered why she was doing this. She _had_ to do this. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't do this. She couldn't read Percy's mind for the rest of his (their maybe?) life.

"I have to find Aphrodite." Annabeth said.

** That's my girl.**

Percy climbed to his feet, "Come on, Annabeth. Let's-"

Before Percy could finish his sentence, the woman jumped up out of her chair, hissing at them and starting toward them.

"My dears, I don't believe you quite understand. This quest will mean your destruction." She said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes just as Percy said, "A lot of quests mean our destruction. I think we will take our chances. Nice talking to you, though."

"No!" The woman shrieked. "No one defies me!"

Annabeth decided to take her moment of frustration and get some information. The spa had been a total bust without finding Aphrodite, and they needed something to go on.

"And who are you exactly? If we're not going to defy you then we should probably know your name." Annabeth said thoughtfully.

**Are you trying to buy us time or information?**

"I'm not that stupid, sweetie, but I suppose I can tell you anyway." She said as she walked a little closer to them. "I'm Regina."

**Like ****_Mean Girls!_**

****"-And I was a daughter of Aphrodite up until I completed a quest and Zeus offered me godhood. Unlike you, Percy Jackson, I took it and have been serving at my mother's side ever since." Regina (apparently) said smugly.

**If she turned out like this then I am ****_so _****glad that I turned it down. **

But some of this didn't make any sense. If she was a daughter of Aphrodite then why was she trying to keep them from looking for Aphrodite? Shouldn't she be helping them find her?

"Then why aren't you trying to help us find her?" Annabeth asked.

"Please!" Regina scoffed. "Ever since I was made a _minor _goddess all she does is ignore me until she needs her nails and make-up done! I practically _invented_ her new hairstyle! And this is the thanks I get? To be ignored?"

**Ouch. Demigod swag, I guess. I feel your pain.**

"So you sent your mom away." Annabeth guessed.

"Sent her away? She definitely isn't _your _mother, but she was smart enough to guess that I was jealous. Before she got too suspicious I hired some people and kidnapped her." Regina threw her arms up and glared at Annabeth even harder. "And everything was great until you came along with your stupid quest and your stupid plan to try and save her."

**Man, this girl is crazy.**

"But why would you want to get rid of Aphrodite?" Annabeth asked.

"Did I plan on being ignored any longer? No! I'm tired of being stuck in the shadows where no one knows that I exist! It's time for _me _to take her place in the Olympians!" Regina said.

**All we're missing is the flash of lightning and the evil laugh.**

"Do you realize how crazy that is?" Percy said suddenly. "The gods are going to find her if we don't first."

Regina came even closer to them, and Annabeth stepped slightly in front of Percy. She didn't want her anywhere near him.

**Annabeth! Stop protecting me!**

"Oh, you're not going to find her. She's hidden away in stone like she always wanted, you know. It minimizes the aging, but gods, the humidity is probably ruining her hair." Regina shrugged. "Besides, even if you managed to find out where she is, you will die before you get there. I've got plenty of things lined up to take care of you."

Annabeth felt her heart crawl into her throat. She had been so caught up in listening to Regina's crazy story that she hadn't even realized that she had heard her name before. Cole and his gang had mentioned her name. They were working for her. They had been hired by her.

"Cole." Annabeth said shakily.

Regina grinned magnificently, "I was quite pleased with their performance. They were very… frustrated after they didn't get you, Annabeth. But don't worry. I've promised them another shot."

**Over my dead body.**

There was a low growl coming from Percy's chest, and Annabeth could tell he was ready to reach for Riptide.

"Not so fast, Percy Jackson. I've told Annabeth how to solve all of this. Blame her for your death, not me." Regina's eyes flitted down Percy's body and she smiled arrogantly. "Of course, you could come with me now. Think of all the fun we could have together."

At that comment, Annabeth's vision tinted red and she lunged forward. First, she hadn't given them any information. Then, she had threatened Percy. Next, she had used Cole and embarrassed Annabeth. And finally, she had made a pass at _her _Percy. _Annabeth's_ Percy.

And Annabeth was freaking _pissed._

She got both of her hands around Regina's throat and started squeezing.

A second later, her hands were empty. A cloud of pink dust floated down to the ground where Regina had been.

Annabeth yelled in frustration and kicked a chair over.

**Gods, she's angry. I forget how awesome she looks when she's ticked off. **

Why was this so difficult? And why was Annabeth letting everything get to her? Normally she could keep her emotions buried on the inside, but apparently the combined fear of Cole and the anger at Regina for not giving them any information and hitting on Percy was making her go crazy.

Her rage wore off all too soon, and Annabeth fell to her knees.

This was pointless. This entire quest was pointless. Their only lead had combusted into dust, and now Annabeth had no clue what to do. Regina had shoved it into her face and said that they would never find Aphrodite.

And the strange thing was that Annabeth was starting to believe it. All of their options were gone. Even if they tried to find Aphrodite, Regina was just going to find a way to kill them anyway. All of-

**Come on, Annabeth.**

She felt Percy's hands on her middle, and he started to pull her up from the ground.

"Annabeth." Percy said. "Come on. Don't fall apart. Please. I need you."

She let Percy pull her back to her feet, and she shoved all of her bad feelings and thoughts out of her mind. She didn't have time for this. She didn't have time to fall apart. She had to keep going. Daughters of Athena never gave up. _Annabeth _didn't give up.

**Please be okay. Don't make me do this by myself.**

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I won't. I'm fine now. Sorry I lost it."

"It's okay, but you scared me." He said. "So what are we doing now?"

She sighed. "We're going home."

**Home? I thought we had to find Aphrodite?**

She shook her head. "Not anymore."

**Are you seriously going to listen to what she said? **

"Percy, she was right. If we keep looking for Aphrodite, we're going to die. We can just go home and tell the gods that it was too risky. We didn't have enough information. We can live. We can be together." She said.

**That's not what I want. Not like this.**

"You can't be serious. We're not _giving up." _Percy said.

"Why not?" Annabeth asked. "If we don't, we're going to die."

"Since when has that ever stopped us?" He asked. "Annabeth Chase, we _don't _give up. That's not what we do. I know that you're scared; I'm scared too, but we _don't _give up. I would rather die on a quest than go back home to camp like a coward."

Annabeth stomped her foot angrily. "Percy! You don't get it! If we finish this quest, and you die and leave me, I won't be able to live with it. I won't be able-"

Her voice stopped working and she couldn't breathe.

**Damn it.**

Percy crossed over to her and pulled her into his arms, holding her against him. "Hey, that won't happen. That's not going to happen. We're both going to be fine."

Annabeth and Percy stood there until she managed to even out her breathing and calm down. He kept his arms tight around her and whispered into her ear when she almost lost it again.

Finally, she managed to pull herself back together, (she swore that this mind-reading thing was throwing her hormones off) and she took a step back from Percy.

**I've got an idea.**

"What?" Annabeth said. Her mind was fried, and she was fresh out of ideas.

"Something Regina said about Aphrodite being stuck in stone and the humidity being really bad." Percy said as he took Annabeth's hand and started to head out of the room.

"Yeah?" She asked. They passed through the hallways, and walked outside into the dark without anyone else bothering them.

"Well, I think she's at Hoover Dam." Percy said with a look at her.

* * *

**A/N: Let me know what you think about this! I want to know what you guys think will happen next! Thanks for reading! I'll try to have the next chapter up soon!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**

**P.S. Who is your favorite supporting character from the first series?**


	9. Chapter 9- Memories and Sacrificing

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait, but I hope this 7,000 word chapter kind of makes up for it.**

**So obviously, these chapters are long, but I'm kind of hoping they will at least go back down to about 5,000. This one kind of got a little out of control, so hopefully the next few will be better.**

**I put up a poll concerning this story on my profile so if you want any say in what happens next, go vote!**

**And lastly, this chapter is dedicated to Sarah Mia 13 who has my blessing on marrying this story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

* * *

Annabeth was extremely jealous.

She couldn't believe that Hoover Dam was this awesome. She couldn't believe that someone had actually designed this and built this back in the 1930s. It was massive, and the architecture was _amazing. _

She also couldn't believe that Percy had been here before. Without her.

**Man, it's hot here in the summer.**

Annabeth scowled every time that she (or Percy) thought about the other time that he had been here. It had been the winter that she had gone "missing," and he had been on a quest with Thalia and Grover and Nico's sister, Bianca, and a Hunter named Zoë to go and find Artemis. Annabeth knew that Percy had really only gone on the quest to find her, but she still frowned when she thought about not being on a quest with him. It made her… jealous.

"You know, it looks different in the summer." Percy said. His hair kept shifting with the dry desert wind that was blowing off of the mountains in the distance.

"I wouldn't know." She said.

**Is she… jealous?**

"I am not." She grumbled.

**She so is! Annabeth, you're jealous!**

"Shut up, Percy." She said.

Percy rolled his eyes and took her hand as he led their way around a group of tourists that were gathered close to the edge. "There's nothing to be jealous of. I was on a quest looking for _you_."

She shrugged. If he didn't know by now that she was really territorial of her friends, then there was no point in telling him.

Besides, the architecture was freaking _amazing. _

Percy kept holding her hand so she could stare at all of the architecture, and he finally broke her out of her thoughts when he said, "Are you hungry? The dam snack bar is inside."

Annabeth could hear Percy laughing in his mind and he kept seeing images of Thalia and Grover laughing until they had tears streaming from their eyes.

"So I finally get in on the inside joke that I've been hearing about all of these years, huh?" Annabeth said. She was surprised at how flat her voice sounded.

**Quit being so grumpy.**

"Come on, Annabeth. Stop being so dull and angry. I know that you're upset about the whole Regina and Aphrodite thing, but that is not a reason for you to be short or snappy with me." He said with an exasperated sigh.

Did he just snap at her? He never snapped at her.

**Did I just say that to her?**

Annabeth caught up to him so she could walk at his shoulder. "I'm as surprised as you are."

"Anyway, are you hungry?" He said, changing the subject.

Annabeth shook her head and let her eyes wander back over to more of the curves of the dam, "No, but I would kill for a cold soda."

Ω

"Athena helped me the last time I was here."

They were sitting at the dam snack bar, sipping from their sodas as they watched people and tourists file in and out of the building. They were perched on two stools at the bar near the door, and every time that it opened, Annabeth could fill the heat come inside in waves.

Percy had been thinking about the quest he had been on when he came here. Annabeth knew that he hated to talk about it (that's why she knew next to nothing about it) and he even blocked most of his thoughts about it. Annabeth had been listening to him, but she hadn't even heard him think about her mother.

"Athena helped you?" Annabeth asked.

**Don't sound so surprised. She did it for you, not me.**

"Well, what did she do?" Annabeth asked.

"I had been separated from the others, and I ended up getting on this elevator that was going down to the turbines so I could try and get away from some monsters. It turned out that Athena was the tour guide. She told me that there was a way out for anyone clever enough to find it. I was at the bottom when I met Rachel, and she was the one who saved me from the monsters I just mentioned." Percy explained.

Annabeth frowned again. She knew that Percy did like her now, but it was kind of hard to hear him talk about adventures with Rachel. She knew it was irrational (gods, she was _friends_ with Rachel now) but it still made her jealous to think that Percy had liked her.

"Did you like her?" The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them.

**Are you serious right now?**

Her frown deepened. "You don't have to tell me."

"Listen," Percy said as he closed his eyes.

Suddenly, Annabeth's vision was clouded and she wasn't in the dam snack bar anymore.

She was standing in an elevator, listening to a tour guide talk, she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflective side panel, and she was surprised to see an extremely young and awkward looking Percy. So she was seeing things his way.

_Percy was running down the halls, and he turned around, swinging his sword with him when he heard a sharp sound exactly like a monster. He was extremely surprised to see a red-headed girl standing there with a Kleenex pressed to her nose. _

_ "Oh my god!" She shouted. "Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?"_

_ Percy let his jaw drop open. "You're mortal!"_

Annabeth could feel that Percy was surprised, and he was staring at her and trying to figure out what to say.

_"Who are you?" Percy demanded._

_ "Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Now are you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?" She said indignantly. _

Percy ran off through the hall, and that memory melted into a different one.

_Percy was crouching down in the band room at a school, and he was looking at Rachel Elizabeth Dare as she stared at him. He tried to explain about all of the gods and stuff, and he was sure she was going to start screaming that he was crazy in just a sec-_

_ "I knew it!" She exclaimed excitedly. _

Percy started to stand up, and the scene changed again.

_He was sitting in the driver's seat in Paul's Prius, and he was staring at Rachel, who looked like a million golden drachmas. Her red hair was swept up into a ponytail, and she had a white cotton dress to cover her bathing suit. _

_ Rachel nodded and said, "And so . . . hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"_

_ Percy hesitated for a few seconds. He didn't really know what to say and how was he supposed to-_

_ All of a sudden, a shadow fell across Percy's face, and the hood of the car crunched pathetically. Percy looked up to see Blackjack sitting on the hood._

_ "Blackjack, what are you-" Percy started._

_"'Sup, Percy."_

_ Percy looked back to see Beckendorf sitting on Blackjack's back._

_ "Time?" Percy asked. He nodded grimly. Percy's throat threatened to close. _

_Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."_

_"Oh, hey. I'm Beckendorf. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me . . . uh, I mean he mentioned you."_

_Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So I guess you guys have to go save the world now."_

_"Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed._

_Percy looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom-"_

_"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood." Rachel said. Percy nodded as a thanks, wondering if Paul would ever let him borrow the car again. Probably not._

_"Good luck." Rachel leaned over and kissed him full on the lips. "Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."_

_Percy looked at her in shock, but he couldn't form a coherent thought as he climbed onto Blackjack's back and flew away._

Annabeth's vision came back. She blinked her eyes a couple of times, trying to understand and clear her thoughts.

Rachel had kissed Percy? She hadn't known that. Of course, when Percy came back to Camp, it had been obvious that he had been spending some of his time with her, but never in her right mind would she have even thought that they had kissed.

And from his thoughts, Percy hadn't minded. Sure, he sounded like he was kind of confused, but he could have probably gotten used to kissing a beautiful girl like Rachel.

So why wasn't he with her now? Why didn't he convince her to stay mortal? They couldn't be together, and now Percy was stuck with Annabeth and-

**Stop overanalyzing, Annabeth.**

"Did that answer your question?" Percy asked. He was staring and leaning closer to her.

She nodded, "Yeah, but if you like her then why didn't you stop her from-"

**Oh gods.**

"What?" Annabeth said. Why was he cursing now?

"Past tense. As in I liked her. As in I don't anymore." Percy leaned back in his chair. "I don't really know if I ever liked her like that. I think that I liked what she represented, you know?"

"Not really." Annabeth said. "How do you like someone only because of something they stand for? That's like saying that you only like me because I'm a demigod."

**This is hard to explain.**

"It's the same thing really. I think the only reason I really thought that I liked her was because I could pretend I was a mortal when I was with her. I could pretend that none of this existed and that I was just a regular guy when I was with her." Percy said.

Annabeth felt her heart turn to stone. Percy wanted to be mortal? He wanted to pretend that none of this existed? She knew that sometimes she wished she was normal, but she always came back to wanting to be a demigod because this was her home. Camp Half-Blood was home. _Percy_ was home.

And he didn't want any of that?

"You want to be mortal?" Annabeth asked. She was angry when she heard her own voice shake.

**Oh, Annabeth.**

"Not now. Now when-" Percy stopped abruptly.

**Not when I have you. **

"But Percy-" Annabeth started.

"Listen to me."

Before Annabeth could tell him not to do it again, (She had something to say!) he pulled her into his mind.

_Percy was tired and freaked out and confused. He had just fought some weird thing, and now his only friend in the entire world was passed out and his mother was gone forever. He collapsed onto a porch at a really big house, and just as his vision started swimming, a pretty blonde girl with princess curls stepped into his line of sight._

_"He's the one, Chiron." The blonde girl said. "He must be."_

_"Silence, Annabeth." Another dude said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."_

Everything shifted, and this time, Percy was standing up.

_The blonde girl was studying Percy. She was pretty tall (and pretty in general) but she looked a lot more intimidating than him. Her gray eyes were kind of scary, but Percy felt like he could stare at them for a really long time and still not understand them._

_Her gray eyes flickered down to the Minotaur horn in his hand, and just when Percy thought she would say how awesome he really was, she said, "You drool when you sleep."_

Everything shifted again, and this time, Percy was staring at her.

_Percy felt his face heat up, and he was thanking all of the gods that he was back in his clothes. That would have been embarrassing considering that Annabeth looked so good and-_

_She tackled him with a hug, but before he could hug her back, she shoved him away._

_"I'm glad you're not a guinea pig."_

The scene blurred, and she could see Percy jumping over the side of a boat and diving into the ocean.

_Percy cut through the waves at a ridiculous speed. He needed to get to Annabeth before she did something crazy and-_

_Just as Percy grabbed Annabeth's ankle, his vision blurred with a scene of Luke and a man and woman sitting on a blanket in a park. The New York skyline was in the background, but it looked different. It took Percy half of a second to realize that Annabeth had designed it all. Luke was holding his hand out (like he hadn't ever done anything to hurt her) and the man and woman (who Percy was guessing were Annabeth's parents) smiled brightly and gestured for her to sit down. _

_Percy knew that the Sirens were supposed to show you what you wanted the most, but he just couldn't understand why Annabeth would want that. Didn't she understand that all of these people had hurt her? Couldn't she see that she wasn't going to be able to fix it?_

_He pulled Annabeth away and shoved them both under the water. She quit fighting him. _

_That was it! He needed to keep them under the water! But if he did that, how was she supposed to breathe?_

_That seemed like a minor problem when Annabeth kicked him in the face._

_Percy prayed that this would work, and he found himself and Annabeth in a bubble._

_She looked at him for a second, and then she broke down into tears. She put her head onto Percy's shoulder, and he held her._

_"I'll get us back to the ship." He said. "It's okay. Just hang on."_

The memory shifted, and Percy was smiling at Tyson.

_Percy yelled over the roar of the crowd, "Tyson! My baby brother!"_

_His face grew incredibly red, and the roaring got even louder when Annabeth leaned over and kissed his cheek._

Now, Percy was sitting in a limo, blushing and looking at a really pretty woman with familiar gray eyes.

_"Pftt. That's not the point." She said as she stared at him. "Follow your heart."_

_Percy hesitated. "But I don't know where it's going. My heart, I mean."_

The woman faded and Percy was standing on Olympus.

_Annabeth reached out and touched the new gray streak in his hair that matched hers perfectly. It was a sucky and painful souvenir from this new quest, and Percy hoped he could hide it from his mom._

_"So," Annabeth started. "What did you want to tell me earlier?"_

_Percy looked around at all of the people in the streets, dancing and laughing. "I was, uh, thinking that we got interrupted at Westover Hall. And… I think I owe you a dance."_

_She smiled, "All right, Seaweed Brain."_

Everything was filled with armor and people were yelling and talking.

_Quintus kept yelling names off of his list until he said, "Percy Jackson with Annabeth Chase."_

_Percy grinned at Annabeth. They were going to own this game. "Nice."_

_"Your armor is crooked." She said and redid his straps for him._

Suddenly, Percy was nervous. He was standing in the Athena cabin.

_Annabeth held her arms out blinked back tears. Percy stepped forward and circled his arms around her, holding her. She was shivering. She smelled like lemons._

_"Hey, it's… It's okay." Percy said slowly, afraid his voice was going to shake because he was so nervous._

The temperature rose to what felt like two hundred degrees, and Percy was crouching down behind a rock.

_"I'll be fine." Percy said, trying to convince himself and Annabeth. "Besides, we've got no choice."_

_Annabeth glared at him, and he could have sworn that she was about to punch him in the-_

_She grabbed the front of his shirt and crashed her lips to his._

_It only lasted for half a second because she pushed away from him and said something that Percy didn't hear before throwing her cap on her head._

_Even though Percy was about to die, he was glad that he was here. He was glad that he was here with her. He was glad that he was sacrificing himself for her. _

_He was glad that she had been his first kiss._

The heat disappeared, and Percy could feel the wind blowing around him as he entered the pavilion.

_"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" _

_Annabeth was yelling at him and shoving people out of the way. She had gone from extremely upset to raging mad in two seconds flat, and Percy was afraid that she was going to punch him again. Instead, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly._

_She seemed to realize that she was causing a scene because she shoved him away. "I- we thought you were dead, Seaweed Brain!"_

The wind died down, but the sun was hot on Percy's skin.

_They were standing by the tetherball court, and Percy had just made a huge mistake. He knew that he shouldn't have brought this up, but he just couldn't ignore it. He needed some advice, and he had always gone to Annabeth._

_"I knew we shouldn't have told you about the prophecy." Annabeth said as she rolled up the scroll so hard it ripped. "All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you're scared."_

_Percy couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Me? Run away?_

_"Yes, you!" She got right up in his face. "You're a coward, Percy Jackson!"_

The sun and wind died suddenly, and Percy was surrounded by battle noises.

_He felt a chill run down his spine like that old saying about someone stepping on your grave in the split second before he heard a scream. He turned around to see Annabeth clutching her arm and falling to the ground._

_He understood what had been about to happen. A demigod would have stabbed him in his only weak-spot. But Annabeth had intercepted that knife with her own body. Why?_

_"Get back!" He yelled as he spun in a circle. "No one touches her!"_

The battle sounds faded, and Percy was kneeling on the ground.

_"The small of my back." He knew that he wasn't supposed to tell anybody, but if he couldn't trust Annabeth, then there was no point to this war._

_She lifted her hand weakly and set it on his back. "Where? Here?"_

_Percy moved her hand to his weak spot, and he could swear that he felt a thousand volts of electricity flow through his body._

_"You saved me," he said. "Thanks."_

Everything started moving a lot faster.

_"You were like a brother to me, Luke." She said softly. "But I didn't love you."_

_"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"_

_She punched him in the stomach, "Me, Seaweed Brain."_

_Annabeth was smiling, "Watch where you're going, Seaweed Brain."_

_"Percy is too nice." She grumbled._

_"I'm glad you're not dead, Seaweed Brain." She said as she wiped a few tears away._

_"You know," she said as they stumbled along. "It wasn't the bravest thing I've ever seen."_

_"Hold on, Seaweed Brain. You're not getting away from me that easily."_

_"Just be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you. I mean because we need you for the battle."_

_"Come back alive, Seaweed Brain, then we'll see."_

_"You're cute when you're worried." She muttered. "Your eyebrows get all scrunched together."_

_"Percy!"_

_Annabeth was standing in front of him, covered in dirt and her arm was in a slung, but Percy thought that she had never looked more beautiful. She smiled at him, and suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. _

_He lunged forward and grabbed her in his arms and crashed his lips to hers._

Annabeth blinked roughly to try and regain her own mind. Her eyes were watering (not because she was crying or anything) and her breathing was ragged.

She remembered all of those things happening, and when she had said/done all of them she had always been wondering what he had been thinking about. Now that she had seen him compare all of his memories of her with all of his memories of Rachel, she didn't have any doubts. Percy seemed so _happy _(and confused, but he _is_ a seaweed brain) in the memories with Annabeth, and he had put a lot more emphasis on them.

Except for that last one. She couldn't recall that happening.

**That's what I should have done. But I didn't.**

Annabeth actually nodded, but all she could manage to say was, "Oh."

Percy laughed softly, "Do you see now? I may have liked Rachel for a little while, but you were _always_ more important to me."

Annabeth could tell that's not what he wanted to say. He wanted to say that he had liked _her _even longer than Rachel, but Annabeth had already put the brakes on him saying it the first time. Why would he bother with trying again? She couldn't help but be disappointed for some reason.

If it would have been any other day or any other time when they weren't trying to find a goddess or save the gods again, Annabeth would have leaned over and kissed him.

But, they _were _here for a reason. They were trying to find Aphrodite, and it definitely wasn't going to get done if Annabeth decided to sit here with Percy like they were on a date.

"We should go look for something that could lead us to Aphrodite." Annabeth said.

Ω

**Gods, it's hot down here.**

Annabeth nodded along with Percy's thoughts. They had gone down to the turbines to look for something, _anything _that would help them and it was so hot. She had thought that it would be cooler in the bottom than it was on the top, but apparently things were different here at the Hoover Dam because she was about to sweat to death.

"There is another elevator at the end of the hall that will take you back up to the top floor. Please feel free to use the restrooms located on this hallway. Thank you." The elevator door closed just as the tour guide finished talking.

The group of tourists started to move off down the hallway, but if Annabeth and Percy were going to look for any kind of clues, they were better off by themselves. Just as Percy started to move forward, Annabeth grabbed his hand and held him back.

**What?**

She looked at him and said, "Help me search the walls. There might be something here."

So they set off down the hall, with Annabeth searching one side and Percy searching the other. By the time they had been down the hall and back up again, Annabeth was getting frustrated. They hadn't found _one _thing to even remotely relate to the gods or Aphrodite.

And _dude_ was she getting frustrated. She was getting so pissed off about this entire thing (Was it really necessary?!) and she was about to lose it.

**Maybe I was totally wrong about the Hoover Dam thing.**

Maybe he had been wrong, but they were out of options. Except for the tiny fact like this one (Annabeth thought for sure this place would have gotten them somewhere) Regina hadn't given them anything else to even consider about this quest. This whole thing was about to be a dead end.

Annabeth's hand hit a door knob again. She had already been past this door at least twice, but she never opened it.

Considering the fact that they were about to be headed back to Olympus to tell the gods that they couldn't finish this quest, (Zeus would probably blast them on the spot) Annabeth decided to look.

She jerked open the door, extremely disappointed when a mop fell out toward her face.

A pair of voices floated down the hallway, and Annabeth turned around, grabbed Percy's hand, and jerked him into the supply closet with her.

**Annabeth! What the heck are you doing?!**

She held one of her fingers up to her lips to tell him to stay quiet so she could hear.

"I know they were here just a second ago." A deep voice said.

"They probably went up the other elevator while you were hitting on that woman at the end of the hall." Another even deeper voice said.

Annabeth froze. She felt the blood in her veins run cold.

**Hades no.**

Percy was already pulling Riptide out, but Annabeth was a stone statue.

"Hurry up. Regina is expecting us to have them to her by tomorrow. And all of us want a little play time, don't we?" Cole said jokingly.

**_No one _****is going to have "play time" with her****_._**

Annabeth held her hand out blindly to Percy and grasped the hem of his shirt and pulled him back farther into the room. There was no way he could go out there by himself and leave her here. Just no.

"They have to be down here." The other guy said.

Their voices were right outside of the door. Annabeth could see the shadow of their feet casting under the door.

She pulled Percy a little farther back into the closet. If Cole decided to open the door right now, Percy and Annabeth were going to have a difficult time fighting two guys in small room like this.

And honestly, she was scared.

**We should fight. Let me kill them right now.**

Annabeth shook her head and turned to stand in front of Percy. She pulled his head down to her level and stared into his eyes without blinking.

**You know I could do it.**

She concentrated directly on his mind.

_Not here. Not right now. _

**There's not another way! Do you want them to take us to Regina?**

_We'll find a way._

Annabeth was jerked out of her communication with Percy when Cole spoke up again.

"Let's go back up. They're not down here." He said.

The other guy agreed. The shadow under the door got smaller. Their voices faded.

Annabeth sighed in relief, but just as her shoulder relaxed, she heard, "Wait, boss. I think we should check this door."

"It's probably just a janitor's closet, but go ahead. Might as well check out all of our resources." Cole said as he came back over.

Her throat started to close, and she backed up against the wall, pulling Percy with her.

Percy's thoughts were too angry for her to decipher. He was already bouncing up and down on his toes because he was ready to fight. The only thing that kept him held in his place was her hand in his.

Just as the door knob started to turn, (like in the most cliché scary movie) Annabeth's hand bumped into handle.

She spun around, jiggling the mysterious handle until it twisted. She jerked with all of her might, and a small door cut in the wall swung open.

**Annabeth, what the heck did you do? Cut a hole in the wall?**

Annabeth grabbed his arm and pushed him into the dark opening, jerking it shut behind her just as the supply closet she had been flooded with light.

Ω

After a few seconds of total silence, she realized that it was so dark because she had her eyes jammed close.

**Where are we?**

She opened her eyes, and just as she did, she heard a high-pitch squeal that she had heard a thousand times from the girls at camp when they lost a shoe or ran out of mascara.

"Percabeth!"

Annabeth looked up sharply at the reference of her and Percy's couple name. She had heard it none stop from Cabin 10, and she frowned every time she heard it.

**Is that-?**

"Aphrodite!" Annabeth said.

The goddess let out a sob. "Thank me! Please, Percabeth, get me out of here! I need a serious manicure! And this humidity is ruining my hair!"

Annabeth had to agree with her on that. Aphrodite had definitely seen better days. Her blonde hair still looked better than Annabeth's did right now, and her nails looked fine from here. Her make-up was wired with magic so it looked too perfect and too good. She was wearing a set of Greek robes and a pair of gold sandals. But her face was so angry, and there were tears of frustration in her eyes. Her shoulders were shaking, and she looked like she was ready to snap someone on half.

Annabeth hadn't expected to find Aphrodite like this. She had been expecting the goddess of love to be too upset to do anything except cry, but right now, Aphrodite looked royally pissed off. She looked like she was ready to chew those bars up with her perfectly white teeth and spit them out at whoever did this to her in the first place.

**What do we do? Annabeth?**

"Lady Aphrodite, we're going to get you out!" Annabeth yelled up to her.

**How? If she can't do it then how are we going to?**

"How?" She cried. "I've been trying to get out of this for… I don't even know how long anymore!"

"That's okay!" Annabeth called up to her. She stepped under the cage, looking up at it. The bars and bottom looked pretty solid, but if she could use her knife to cut through one of them from the _outside _of the cage then maybe the magic wouldn't be as strong!

Annabeth looked over her shoulder at Percy, "Percy, throw me up there."

**Throw you up there? No way! That's too dangerous!**

"Percy! This is not the time to doubt my skills or my weight! Now _throw me!" _She said crossly.

**I swear-**

Percy dropped his sword, set one of his hands on her hip and the other on the lower thigh, and he jerked her up over his shoulders.

His aim was spot on. She didn't know how he managed to get all of her one hundred and twenty pounds up into the air, much less be perfect about where he threw her in the first place.

She caught the edge of the cage with her fingers, and she struggled for half a second.

**Please don't fall. Please don't fall. Please don't-**

Annabeth pulled herself up and wedged her foot into the inch and half plate of steel to keep her balance. She held onto one of the bars with one hand and slammed her knife against a few other iron bars.

Annabeth and Aphrodite both squeaked in pain as Annabeth's knife glinted across the bars, jarring her arm and throwing a shower of sparks into the air. Her knife fell to the ground.

Even though Annabeth's arm was killing her, and she was trembling from holding herself up for this long, she couldn't give up. This was her one chance to get Aphrodite out, and she was _not _about to give in.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "Throw me Riptide!"

**So now you want my sword?**

"Percy Jackson! Don't talk back to me right now!" Annabeth snapped.

Aphrodite squealed again, "This is not the time to be cute! Let me out of here and then we can be cute all day long!"

"I was thinking not talking, Annabeth Chase!" He said. "Now hold out your hand and catch it in pen form."

Annabeth held out her hand, and a second later, Riptide (the pen) bounced into her palm.

She used her mouth to remove the cap, and she spit it down to the ground when the pen grew into a sword. It made her arm a lot heavier, and it would probably be harder to hit just one bar, but if she could it would definitely break the cage.

Annabeth used the small amount of leverage she already had, and she swung Percy's sword directly at a side of the cage.

Just as the blade connected with the metal, a full electrical shock ran through Annabeth's body, and she screamed.

She lost her footing on the cage, and she dropped down so she was hanging from her fingertips.

Aphrodite was trying to reach out to help her, but her hand wouldn't go through any of the bars. Annabeth looked down, but she couldn't see Percy.

She flinched again, and her fingers gave.

**No! Annabeth!**

She hit the ground with a thud and a snap.

"Did you think it would be that easy, Miss Chase?" Someone asked suddenly. "I told you to turn back when you could."

For a scary minute, Annabeth couldn't move. She had hit the ground so hard, the breath was knocked out of her, and she thought that her ankle was broken. Her body was still trembling from the shock, and her eyes were rolled back into her head.

**Annabeth! Please get up! ****_Annabeth!_**

****Percy's thoughts hit her hard enough that her eyes opened and she gasped for breath.

"I'm surprised you withstood that, sweetheart." Regina moved into Annabeth's line of sight. "That force field is designed to fry your brain. Quite literally. It would be a suitable punishment for a daughter of Athena, don't you think?"

Regina was standing over her, smiling down at her as if they were old friends. She snapped her fingers, and then Annabeth was hauled up off of the ground.

**Don't touch her!**

Annabeth's vision cleared. She was being held up by two of Regina's people. She looked over to her right, and she wanted to cry.

Five more people were holding Percy against a wall. Each one of them had one of his limbs pressed onto the wall, and the fifth had a sword held to his heart. He had a gag tied in his mouth, and his eyes were wild and angry.

**Tell me when and I will kill every last person in this room.**

Annabeth hoped he could see it in her eyes that he should wait.

She swallowed back vomit when her bad foot touched the ground. Yep. It was definitely broken.

"I told you, Annabeth, that none of this had to happen. No one would have gotten hurt. You could have been guaranteed a happy ending with Percy." Regina said as she took the steps to close the distance between them. "Look what has happened because you've been so stupid. When are you going to learn to just cut your losses?"

Annabeth's voice was weak, but there was no way in hell she was going to stand here and let someone call her stupid. "Let us go. We can take Aphrodite back to Olympus. Everything will go back to normal."

"Normal?" Regina shrieked. "Why would I want normal? Just so I can be ignored?"

Regina closed the distance between them and held a knife to Annabeth's throat. "No. That won't do. You know my plans, and now that you didn't take the offer I gave you, you're going to die."

**Annabeth!**

"Regina!" Aphrodite yelled. "Leave them alone! You know perfectly well that they are the best love story around!"

Annabeth looked over to Percy and nodded.

**Thank gods! Stand right there!**

Annabeth watched as Percy shoved his stomach forward, and the sword that had been there shattered into one of the guy's skin. Percy kicked each of the men off of him and laid them out in the floor.

Even though Percy looked utterly scary as he took out each and everybody who moved into his way, Regina just rolled her eyes and sighed.

She sliced up with knife, deep enough to cause a few drops of blood, but nothing else, and said, "Fine. Have it your way. Die in a fight instead of dying at my hand. My people will take care of you. And I must say, you two were quite unimpressive. I was expecting more from the heroes of Olympus."

Annabeth spit in her face, but Regina snapped her fingers, and she started to crumble to pink dust along with Aphrodite's cage.

"Percabeth!" The goddess yelled. "No!"

Annabeth tried to stumble forward and get a hold of Regina, but the two guards who had her twisted her arms back.

**_Don't. Touch. Her._**

****A second later, both of her sides were free. Annabeth was too dizzy to even notice that she was swaying before she fell toward the ground.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. "Please be okay. Please don't do this to me. Please-"

She forced her eyes open and her feet to stay solid on the ground. Her ankle was killing her, her throat was bleeding, and her body felt like it had been electrocuted by Zeus himself. But Percy sounded so lost and so upset, that stuff didn't seem like a big deal.

"I'm fine." She said.

**No, you're not. Annabeth, don't-**

"I told you that I'm fine. We can worry about me once we get out of here!" Annabeth said. She grabbed Percy's hand. "Come on!"

Ω

Annabeth was glad that she had thought it would be a good idea to stash their bags inside the dam instead of in the car.

Once they had made it out of the "supply closet secret room," they had raced back up to the top level of the dam, only to be cornered by a group of men. Annabeth grabbed their bags from a bathroom stall she had stashed them in, and ran back out to meet Percy.

**We need to get out of here.**

Annabeth nodded. "Run for the doors. We stand a better chance outside."

Percy nodded and grabbed her hand.

As soon as they slammed through the doors to get outside, Annabeth heard an insanely loud screech.

She looked behind her to see a cloud of the black scaly demons from all of her dreams running toward them. They had their mouths held open and foam was dripping to the ground as they shrieked and pointed at them. Annabeth still had no idea what to call them, but she doubted it would matter if they caught her.

Percy was running full speed, dragging her along behind him. She was trying desperately to keep up, but every time her feet pounded on the concrete, a shock of pain ran up her leg and spine.

**Faster, Annabeth!**

"I'm trying!" She said as she faltered.

**Gods! She has a broken ankle! I totally forgot! How the heck has she been running with me?!**

Before she could say that it was because she was freaking awesome, Percy reached for her and threw her over his shoulder. One of his arms was gripping her legs, and the other was holding his sword.

"Perfect timing, Percy Jackson!"

**Damn it!**

Percy skidded to a halt, and Annabeth looked around to see what was happening.

Cole and his gang were standing about fifteen yards away, blocking the only way off of the dam. Behind them, they had lit Percy and Annabeth's car on fire. Cole was gripping a sword, and he was smiling happily.

Annabeth turned back to look behind her as she heard more screeching. The demons had slowed from their run, and they were now creeping forward slowly but surely.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered. "I don't know what to do."

**It's going to be okay.**

His thoughts wavered. He knew it too. He knew that this wasn't going to be okay.

"Hey, thanks for coming directly to us! We appreciate it!" Cole shouted as he started to walk forward.

Percy moved back toward the edge of the dam.

"Now that we don't have to give you over to Regina, things will be a lot better." Cole said. "We can just kill you, and we can take our sweetheart with us."

**No way in hell.**

"Over my dead body." Percy growled.

Cole laughed. "That is already arranged, Percy. No need for you to worry."

Annabeth took a deep breath and wiggled down from Percy's shoulder so she was standing beside him.

She tried not to flinch when she looked at Cole's face. Her stomach was in knots just from seeing him. "If I go with you, will you let Percy go?"

**No! I'm not letting you go with him! I'm not leaving you!**

Cole looked at his people and then back to her. His eyes worked down her body, and Percy growled again.

He shrugged. "Sure. I don't see what that would hurt. We could pretend that we killed him, if that's what it would take to avoid a fight. See, we could definitely kill both of you, but if we did get in a fight several of my people would probably die. Do you know how hard it is to find good traitors?"

Annabeth wanted to vomit again. She did _not _want Percy to leave her side right now. She didn't want Cole to touch her or even look at her, but if going they tried to fight, Percy would die.

**You're not doing this for me. I'm not going.**

Annabeth turned toward Percy and looked into his eyes.

_Yes you are._

Annabeth took one last look at him, and she felt her eyes start to water. How could she leave him here? How could she abandon the one person in her life that had never left her? How could she expect him to be okay with that?

**Don't you dare. You're not leaving me. You don't get to decide this.**

_Let go of my hand._

**Never.**

Annabeth looked back to Cole, who was holding out his hand and smiling evilly.

She took a step forward.

**_No._**

****Annabeth's vision flooded as Percy's mind filled with memories. Thousands of times he had ever looked at her or spoke to her or touched her took over his mind and shuffled through fast forward.

**_I'm. Not. Leaving. You._**

****Annabeth turned to look in time to see Percy lunge and grab her. At the same time, Cole yelled, "Kill him!" The demons shoved forward, and Percy stumbled backward.

**Water.**

Annabeth knew what he was thinking the second before he did it, but it still managed to scare her.

Percy jumped over the side of the dam. Annabeth and Percy rolled down the concrete, and Annabeth could still hear the sounds of Cole and the demons until they crashed into the water.

* * *

**A/N: Leave a review and tell me what you're thinking and make sure you go vote on that poll! Thanks for reading!**

**-SomethingMoreCreative**


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